I have never been much of a traveler, but my husband is and he loves archeology. For our 30th anniversary, I used part of a small inheritance for us to do something special together. A cruise appealed to me (although not to my husband). We did a grand compromise and booked a cruise to visit historical sites along the Turkish coast and on nearby islands. We both had a great time. I found that visiting the ruins was quite interesting and he found that staying on a ship wasn't bad at all.
Last year, after taking care of my mother until she passed away, we recovered a little on a getaway at a relative's place in Belize. An entire day's journey to get there was grueling but the stay was lovely. Although I still hate the process of hauling bags around and sitting for hours on a plane, experience has proved that an adventure can make it all worth it. Therefore, when we got an invitation to a Sicilian wedding, I was primed to go!
Caring for my mother when she no longer recognized me, gave me a different outlook on life. While it is disconcerting to be an adult orphan, there are some benefits to going through that experience. As Jeanne Safer wrote, “Nothing else in adult life has so much unrecognized potential to help us become more fulfilled human beings—wiser, more mature, more open, less afraid.” I have realized that every one of us has to take a chance and go out and do things that make us uncomfortable sometimes. Travel overseas still scares me a little, so I compensated by madly planning ahead for every possible contingency.
Palace of the Elephants
I relied on my husband to suggest some locales to visit while we were on the island of Sicily. We found it was fortunate that the wedding was to take place in Catania and that we were to spend several days there.
As a small-town girl, who grew up on a farm, days were spent happily climbing trees and running through fields with our dogs. City life usually doesn't interest me. However, Catania was bewitching in its beauty and fascinating culture. They use an old palace, the Palace of the Elephants, as their city hall! The lively plaza surrounding it holds a tall fountain with a large black stone (volcanic rock) elephant atop it. There are so many things to see there, we could have happily stayed there for weeks.
There were a half dozen churches within two blocks of our hotel, each more beautiful than the next. Within easy walking distance was a museum, another palace overlooking the harbor, a lovely park, interesting plazas, some ancient ruins, many restaurants, a street market place, an old castle, and many more churches.
The townspeople were unfailingly friendly. We tried to be polite and use Italian whenever possible. They accepted our broken Italian phrases and sign language with a smile. Communication became much easier as we got more knowledgeable and confident with the language. A friend clued us in that Spanish (which I know - a little anyway) was usually understood quite well. That helped too.
One of many beautiful churches in Catania
I fell in love with Catania. While we were circling in the plane for landing, the city shone in the sunlight next to the smoking Mount Etna. It was like a scene in a movie. When I told my husband that it would be a good place for us to retire to someday, he seemed to not know if I was joking. He said, "but there's a volcano..." Not only was there a volcano, but it had been erupting just weeks before our visit.
Wherever we went, the guides would talk about Catania being destroyed by an eruption, by an earthquake, and then by another eruption. Yes, there definitely is a volcano there and it is active.
We changed our plans somewhat and spent a couple more days in Catania rather than taking a long tiring journey to Agrigento. We missed touring the Valley of the Temples, but were really glad that we didn't have to pack up right after the wedding. We had no idea how elaborate an event it was going to be. They had buses take us to a Villa outside of Catania for the wedding dinner. There were countless courses served, much music, and dancing. We caught the first bus back and arrived at the hotel around 3 am. We slept quite well that night and almost missed breakfast. We heard from the others straggling in, that the last bus came back three hours after ours did!
Mount Etna, seen from Taormina, Sicily
The extra two days gave us time to tour the area closer to Mount Etna. More beauty greeted us in Taormina and I swam in the clear salt water at Isola Bella (the beautiful island). It was a great experience. The roads winding up the slopes of Mount Etna were still littered with black cinders from the most recent eruption.
The grotto of the nymph
We left Catania to spend a couple days in Siracusa. It is another wonderful Sicilian city. Our tour through the Archeological Park there was amazing. Within the park is an ancient Greek Theater, the remains of a stone quarry and an ancient Roman Amphitheatre. The hill above the Greek theater has the remains of some tombs and a grotto. While it is called "The Grotto of the Nymph," the grotto actually houses an ancient Greek aqueduct. The water still runs through it hundreds of years after it was constructed!
It was late afternoon when we exited from the Archeological Park. As twilight was falling, we walked through the tiny island of Ortigia and saw even more beauty there. People were eating at little tables set out on the side of the streets. I tried in vain to get a photo of a flock of birds in flight. They would fly up occasionally from the trees surrounding the legendary Fountain of Arethusa. Ducks call the "fountain" home. They were quite entertaining as they splashed around the papyrus plants which grow wild in that freshwater spring.
There were street musicians playing a lively tune. The sunset over the harbor was breath-taking. Once again, we could have spent many more enjoyable days in that city, but our time was altogether too short.
Sunset at Ortigia
Our stay in Sicily was wonderful and we hope to make it back there again soon. We might even find a way to retire there. My mind tells me that the sleeping volcano there could awake to destroy Catania, and the cities around it again, as it has done many times in the past. However, my heart says that living in such a enchanting place is worth the risk.