ARCHITECTURE + AIRBORNE European Travels: SICILIA, ITALIA [palermo, mondello, catania, mt etna, taormina, erice, cefalù]

The March 4-day brought us to Sicily. We found tickets at a great price and flew into Palermo, in the northwestern area of the island. We decided to go outside our usual city stay and found a fantastic B&B in Mondello [The Terrace on Mondello's Gulf], about 20 minutes from downtown Palermo. The terrace of the apartment looked out over Mondellos crystal clear waters and light sandy beach. I imagine that it is quite crowded during the peak summer, but it was perfect for our stay.

Wind surfing!

Warm enough for a swim

From there we took several trips.

Palermo

On Friday, after arriving and exploring the beach, PJ and I headed into Palermo. Bus 806 runs from Mondello to the downtown and it is only a 20 or so minute bus ride. We walked through the 'chaotic' streets and found lots of great sights as well as a delicious place to eat lunch. I would highly recommend La Cambusa and their delicious pasta and clams! As we walked through the maze of streets we found ourselves being accompanied by one of the many adorable 'city dogs' [aka stray dogs that the residents of the city show love to]. I am pretty sure she wanted us to adopt her as she followed us for a good portion of our day. If we hadn't been successful at loosing her outside of a tower Reesey might just have a sister.

Teatro Politeama Garibaldi

Massimo Theater

Petoria square

Our new friend

Palermo Cathedral

Quattro Canti

Catania

Catania is located on the eastern side of Sicily and within the Mount Etna path of destruction. It was founded in 729 by the Chalcidians from Naxos and has been damaged by lava flows and earthquakes multiple times throughout history. Many of the buildings in Catania are built with grey volcanic stone from Mount Etna and large chunks of stone can still be found along the coast from old lava flows.

We only spent a few hours in Catania before we headed out on our Mt. Etna tour. The wide streets and many piazze are nice to walk through and the Baroque buildings are beautiful.

sunrise on the drive

Mt Etna

Porta Uzeda

Fontana Dell'Elefante

Cattedrale di Sant'Agata

Piazza del Duomo

Cattedrale di Sant'Agata

Piazza del Duomo

Basilica Collegiata

Teatro Massimo Bellini

Mt. Etna

Mount Etna is Europe's highest and most active volcano. It is located near Catania and is about a two and a half hour drive from Palermo. It is 3,330 meters high [10,925 feet] but I have heard that they no longer allow tourists to go to the summit. It erupted in 2002 and the ash and smoke caused air traffic to be diverted for 4 days and lead to the closing of roads, schools and businesses. An ash eruption also occurred in 2010. Following the eruption there were a series of earthquakes at the Pernicana fault. More info here.

We decide to do a half day tour with Etna Experience, which brought us along the South side of the volcano and took us to the 2000 meter mark. We were supposed to explore volcanic caves caused by the lava flows but we were not able to due to the quantity of snow still on the mountain. We then headed to another area where we were able to view the remains of a large lava flow that nearly destroyed a small town. The flow stopped halfway through the yard of a house. After a small hike we had a delicious lunch provided by the organization, as well as some Nero d'Avola vino!

Taormina

Taormina sits on the side of a mountain and is a popular tourist destination. The town itself is still lined with medieval churches, a Greek theater and amazing views over the Gulf of Naxos and Mount Etna. Taormina was founded in the 4th century BC and was ruled by Greeks, Romans, and Normans. Northern Europeans then discovered it in the 18th century and since then, writers, artists and royals have called it home. I thought it was one of the most charming towns that we visited. The experience of driving up to the parking garage while looking up at the mountain town was amazing. Something to take note of: there is a bus that will take you from the garage to the town. PJ and I somehow missed this and proceeded to climb what seemed like an infinite amount of steps. We definitely got a full workout that day!

The Greek Theater was one of the most impressive sights of this town. The backdrop of the stage area was the Gulf and Mount Etna. Sadly the clouds had rolled over the mountain and blocked the view, but what an amazing view it was! The theater is still used today.

View from Teatro Antico di Taormina

View of Teatro Antico di Taormina

Teatro Antico di Taormina

Santa Caterina Church

San Giuseppe

Segesta

Segesta is home to an ancient Greek temple and amphitheater. According to some, the temple is considered to be the best preserved in the world, while the theater atop of Mount Barbaro holds many amazing views. The Doric temple, which was built before 430 BC, was never completed due to the roof never being added and the columns never being fluted. It is a little over sixty meters long and twenty-six meters wide. There are also thirty-six Doric columns along the front, back and sides.

Segesta became one of the most important Sicilian-Greek cities and was impressive with both their military and their economy. The hilltop also has a Norman castle, a small church, a mosque and a classical amphitheater. The amphitheater is about sixty-two meters in diameter and also has amazing views of the surrounding valleys.

There is a bus that runs from the parking lot up to the top of Mount Barbaro. We decided to take the bus up but walk down to save some time. The walk down is worth it because it is where the best views of the temple are located.

Erice

Erice is an amazing town located on the mountain of Eryx at 750 meters above sea level. It also looks over the port of Trapani. It is a walled, medieval town filled with forts, churches, castles and stone streets. This town has breathtaking 360 degree views looking over the valleys and sea and is also home to Sicily's most famous cake shop, Maria Grammatico [although we did not stop there].

Apparently Erice is also associated with Hercules and Aeneas as well as the mythical hero Elymi ruler Eryx. There are two castles; Pepoli Castle which has foundations from the Arab times, and Venus Castle, from the Norman period and built on the ruins of the ancient Temple of Venus. Visitors will find many Gothic and Romanesque style buildings such as The Mother Church, Church of Saint John the Baptist, Church of Saint Ursula.

There are several ways of reaching the town of Erice. There is a cable car that brings visitors to the top, a few different roadways and hiking trails. The cable car wasn't running the day we were there so we drove to the top. Luckily it wasn't too windy or our little fiat 500 would have blown off of the mountain!

Matrice di Erice

Overlooking the city

Porta Trapani

From Castello di Venere

Cefalù

Cefalù is a beautiful town one hour east of Palermo. Its most distinctive feature is the huge rock adorned with an ancient castle that rises above the town. Over the years it has been ruled by Roman, Byzantine and Arab rulers.

The town is filled with fishing boats, sandy beaches, medieval stone streets, a unique Norman cathedral and beautiful views. PJ and I wanted to climb La Rocca but with the wind and possibility of rain, we decided to stay in the city.