June 22

today started terribly...

firstly, some other hotel guest at hotel condor was trying to blame us for damage to his car...clearly, we had no damage on our rental so there was no way in hell that we were responsible for anything...and fabulous marcello at the hotel came to our defence. thanks marcello.

then, we get to the catania airport to get picked up for our etna tour and cannot find our tour guide. when we do, she's pissed indicating she NEVER picks people up from the airport and she was NEVER told she'd have to drive us to Taormina at the end of the tour.

i did my best to explain to her (in italian) that the agency told us we could be picked up at the airport and that she would give us a ride home that neither of us were the bad guys....and in the quick italian way...she gave me kisses on my cheeks, apologized for her outburst and we were the best of friends for the rest of the day.



so, if you EVER want to hike etna - grace is your gal. we have her contact number too as you can do some solo treks with her - pure hiking as opposed to our drive and hike experience...but i digress.

etna was pretty fricking cool (and pretty fricking cold too!). we left the 30 some odd degrees for maybe 15 (and whilst eating lunch, i could see my breath). holy cold! it was also errupting in the southern crater but we couldn't see it as she was covered by clouds and mist that day.



we were taken to (dormant) craters in the Valle del Bove, shown the difference between the various lava flows and how to tell how old each flow was.

we hiked through mountain paths, through ash and lava rocks and in general, got our geological fix. we went into lava caves, we asked questions, grace had answers and i think in the end she adored us. we picnicked as high as we could go (i think this was 2900 above sea level) and after a quick warm up, we head down the valley to the alcantara gorge and dipped our toes in its icy waters.



before the ride back to catania we enjoyed some fresh squeeze orange juice and lemonade and took a picture with an old nonno who told us that his photo is all over the world - everyone wants a picture with him.



so we all hopped in the jeep for the ride back and lo and behold...grace dropped us off in taormina first.

what a doll.

we ended up having dinner at the lovely tiramasu (even though there were some scary looking busts watching us eat dinner). a more posh restaurant, but definitely worth it...noshing on bruschetta mista and following up with ravioli (ricotta and spinach). clearly...way too full for desert so i didn't order any, but i had a spoonful of bim's tiramasu...mmmmmm. they did it the best.