Boarded, lunched, unpacked and ready to launch. Barely started our explorations. At 1133 feet long, we have a 2/10 mile walk from our cabin to our assigned restaurant for dinner.
Day 1: All a board
Author: Dan
Day 0: Dancing @ Sea
A little background: back in April, Diane convinced me to try a free dance lesson, mainly so that we might do a little more than sit and watch and drink at her nephew Kevin and Natalie‘s upcoming wedding.
Much to my chagrin and surprise, I can be taught how to dance. Never had I ever thought. And that free lesson? Yeah, gateway drug. Our instructor, Magdalena Piekarz, who was #4 in the world of competitive dance and our teacher, had us confidently doing the basic steps for the Bachata on day one. Might have even touched on the Hustle, too.
Convinced that hey, we can do this, we got 5 more lessons and a half dozen basic dances under our belt before the wedding. And had more fun than we’ve ever had on a night out. We’ve continued taking classes two, sometimes three or four times a week ever since.
Apparently, Magdalena saw that we were at a point in our dance journey where we might enjoy and grow from a group trip with other couples. Western Caribbean cruise, on a brand new ship? Ah, yes please!
So here we are, on embarkation eve of a whole new travel experience. Bring it!
Arrivederci… Sicily!
Pins on a map, in no particular order: https://maps.app.goo.gl/rFc7UXPe9TeJS9nj6
Mt Etna
Mongibello, or “Beautiful Mountain”, dominates the sky in the southeast region of Sicily. The pic above is from our hotel room, about 14 miles from the main craters, rising 11,165 feet above the Mediterranean Sea.
She was being a bit modest this morning, as we paused halfway up the bus route. The elevation here is 4500 feet.
The road, and limit of our ride’s capability, ends at 6200 feet above sea level, here at I Crateri Silverstri. The summit is hidden from this vantage point. Since we are a) not trained vulcanologists, nor b) inclined to walk up the 5000 foot high slope to reach the mouth of Etna, this side vent was as close as we could get.
Etna has created many side vents to relieve the pressure of the magma below over its half million year life.
This vent… note the people on the floor of the crater for a sense of its size, is just a minuscule piece of the Etna landscape. You can stroll around the rim, maybe a quarter mile walk.
The colors, though…
My preconception was that everything would be black, pumice-like rock. Notta so much. Red, orange, brown, blue, green were all there, created by combinations of the many minerals present.
Traffic! Momma Mia!
You couldn’t pay me enough to be a motor coach, or even car driver here. Traffic “flows” in a chaotic, reckless, game of “chicken.” Painted lines, when present, might as well be invisible. Every conceivable mode of transportation participating in a death defying ballet.
And parking, oi! Deep in the crowded cities, we’ve seen cars parked so close it looks like a crane had dropped them in the smallest niches. Our Tour Director, who lives in Rome, has had visiting friends say “you don’t park your cars here, you abandon them.”