This might be the biggest post ever! And it involves volcanoes! A week ago Thursday, we got breakfast. Fresh fruit!
Then we were picked up for an hour ride to a town halfway up Mt. Etna.
We were surprised by the length of the ride because it seemed to close.
Lemon trees!
We passed through several small towns on the slopes of the volcano.
The roadway, the walls, many of the buildings were made from lava rock.
Fields of lava!
Then, all the sudden, the ground was covered in snow!
We were also in the clouds.
We stopped and hiked to a lava tube.
When they were building the road in the 1960s, they found the lava tube.
We climbed down into one side.
So cool!
These circles were bubbles of gas.
Then we crossed the road and went into the deeper side.
It went on for miles.
Then we continued up the road till the end. We could barely see anything.
The snow was so high.
There were people exploring all over.
We made it. Mt Etna is about 11,000 feet high. This is the end of the road. Around 6000 feet. There were restaurants and stores. And a cable car that takes you pretty close to the top. You can only go all the way to the top with an experienced guide.
There is the cable car.
We went to get some snacks.
I got a Sicilian honey cake.
It was cold and snowy!
They gave us boots for the hike.
You could barely see anything in this town.
We walked by the cable car, which wasn't running.
The guide never told us where we were going or how long we would be hiking.
Soon we were off the path onto the snow.
The guide stopped for a minute, then he ran off.
It was hard to walk and to follow the group.
It also was eerily quiet.
Amy was struggling a bit.
She said she was going to stay on this rock. She didn't want to go any further. I had to leave her because the kids had run off.
This was me trying to catch up with them! I could barely see them. It was so crazy!
I found Ariel!
I caught up to the guide and asked him if we would be going back. He said he wasn't planning on it. I told him Amy was back there somewhere. Eli had enough and the other kids wanted to continue, so I took Eli back to find Amy.
These pics are from Aden, Ariel and Noah, who continued on.
The walked to the end of the world.
Eli and I actually had trouble finding Amy. It was snowing hard and covering our tracks. We finally got her and headed back to the town. We did some shopping!
We found a model of the volcano. You can see the Taormina is on the slopes.
There people were going out on atvs. That seems cool.
We found everyone and headed down the street.
We stopped for some tastes of wine and limoncello and honey.
Then we had a long trip back.
It was rainy but the town was busy.
We explored a little.
We got some yummy popsicles.
More tables on stairs.
We did some more shopping.
The twins found chocolate.
We walked to the end of the town.
Pretty views of Mt Etna.
This was the gate to enter the city.
Noah with a big cannoli.
That's an interesting store.
The sun came out.
We checked out the views.
This was a a church we passed by.
Cool Vespa!
Across from our house.
Amy and Aden were hungry and went to an early dinner.
Then we went to our pasta and pizza making class. We joined a group from Austria.
First we made pasta.
It was actually pretty hard to get the shapes right.
I took a quick walk outside. It was good Friday and I heard there was going to be a procession. There was a band in front of a casket with a cross on top. All the lights in the city were turned off.
They slowly walked up the street.
I went back to make pizza.
Nice looking crust boys!
Then into the kitchen.
We got sauce, cheese and toppings.
Then into the oven.
The pizzas were done quickly.
They came out great!
Yum! We ate the pasta too.
Of course some late night gelato.
The town was so quiet.
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