Before I continue to describe our adventures, I must say a couple of things about our GPS. On the way to Capizzi, Jackie managed to turn on the voice to the GPS and set it for "Canadian male". It started out just fine but then the voice began to get odd. Sometimes it would say things like "Turn right-left." so unless you were actually looking at the GPS you wouldn't know which way to turn. And then it began to insult me. It would say things like "Oh my god, you've screwed up, you've made a mistake. Turn the car around." One time it actually called me the "dork behind the wheel." And no matter what we tried, we couldn't turn the voice off. So instead we have turned the volume all the way down. I half expected it to say "What are you doing Hal?"
Anyhow...the day after we visited Capizzi we continued on our way east along the northern coast of Sicily. We were headed eventually to Acireale which lies somewhere between Taormina and Catania. Unfortunately, when Nick plotted out our route on the GPS, he chose no toll roads which took us through mountain passes and fields but fortunately also took us through spectacular mountain villages. This country is full of surprises - at one moment you might be looking at a filthy field full of goats and all their droppings but you go around a corner and suddenly you are confronted with a spectacular castle hanging off the rocks on the side of a mountain! We crossed down to the eastern coastline until we drove into Taormina. Taormina is a beautiful coastal city that is well known as a tourist area and has been for generations. Numerous famous people have made their way to Taormina and its spectacular beaches and quaint building and Greek ruins including Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and Tennessee Williams. Unfortunately, the things that brought the rich and famous to Taormina also bring scads of other tourists and we drove through the city looking in vain for a parking space. Finally we gave up and drove to Acireale where we would find our next couch.
We found our next host in his parents' summer home, one block from the sea. It is a lovely house surrounded by a jungle-like garden complete with banana trees! Once again the fruit was amazing and delicious and Nello, our host was an intelligent young man with a great sense of humour and a desire to be a terrific host. Our first night he took us into Catania where we visited a museum about Sicily during WWII. Because my uncle Rex had been part of the Canadian forces that had landed in Sicily and had won the Military Medal for bravery here, I was very interested. But the whole thing was done so well that even Nick, who usually hates anything to do with war, enjoyed it. Afterwards, we met up with Nello's girlfriend, Delia, and went to a Jazz concert in which her brother was playing trumpet. It was outdoors and the ambience was perfect and the music was great. Later, we went to a cafe and had something to eat. It was about 1am and the streets were humming - people everywhere. By the time we went to bed it was 2 am.
The next day we went up Mount Etna. Etna is the highest and largest volcano in Europe. As you drive up you can see the results of the last two eruptions in 2006 and 2000. The landscape looks more like a moonscape. Once we reached the restpoint we had some delicious but very overpriced lunch and bought our fair share of souvenirs. Then we took a gondola up the volcano almost to the top. The views were spectacular and you could see the steam rising out of Etna. It was very impressive.
When we got back to Nello's home he packed up his textbooks (he is studying to be a civil engineer) and he took us to another concert - this one was more pop and rock. We enjoyed this one just as much and after we went to another bar/cafe but this time in Acireale and again got home about 2am. It was very enjoyable spending time with Nello and seeing this other side of Sicilian life - that of a university student. We also had the good fortune to meet his dad the next morning and he took us out in his garden and cut a bunch of bananas off the tree for us to take with us. Again, a wonderful experience
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