Malta 02 – Sicily

Posted: May 11th, 2010 | Author: Gergana Milusheva | Filed under: trips and notes | No Comments »

31/03/2010

we get up at sunrise, just like that; our room looks to the sea on the east and the sun is tickling us pleasantly in our beds

across the street

breakfast, blissful coffee on the terrace and back in the astronaut suits

our faithful horses

focused tying of the bags

our day begins with a stop at Catania’s port in order to buy tickets for the ferry to Malta

and we head for Etna; we stop by this smoky thing on the way

this is edible, in case you were wondering; I did not quite understand what it was, nor what it is called but before I managed to take put my camera, the guys had already eaten the part meant for eating anyway…

we reach the town of Castellmola which is sitting comfortably at the foot of the volcano

we stop for a bit after managing to get lost on its only street (a single street but with great turns…)

we group again

and continue climbing up; soon, we get to this site

and we give into photography immediately

after a short discussion, the suggestion to sleep somewhere around here was unanimously accepted (nobody wanted to leave this view!); we drive some more to the top and we find ourselves the right hotel; this is the view from our room and …well, it’s the same from everywhere:

it is a weird feeling – Etna is dominating the landscape with deceiving calmness and bliss; lava cannot reach here; this is our first thought although the place we are at right now has been evacuated several times due to the highly poisonous smoke and volcanic ash…

the bikes are parked, we have changed and we sit at a local tavern as the sun is trying to set above Etna