Susan's sketchbook log: Sicily & Malta

 

Santa Catarina, TaorminaCourting disaster

My brother kids me that natural disasters seem to occur wherever I visit. So, it shouldn't have been a surprise that Mt. Etna erupted while I was in Taormina. It's Europe's most active (and highest at 10,800 ft.) volcano. A bit of an ash cloud, and it smoked for days after, but no real trouble, except that when I was on its slopes the next day, the cable car from Rifugio Sapienza wasn't running. What's a village called "Wisdom Refuge" doing on the side of a volcano anyway?

Since the eruption mostly occurred while I was out at a restaurant (talk about your dinner shows!) and I didn't have a camera, I thought I might find a souvenir photo in the newspaper the next day. Sure enough, "La Sicilia" had a photo and story on the front page. As I handed € 1.30 to the kiosk guy, he grinned.

"Etna?" he asked.
"Of course!" I laughed.

Busted!

Earlier, lunch was on the terrace of Granduca, with a view to the Bay of Naxos. As Lonely Planet puts it, "Eating delicious oven-baked pizza on the spectacular terrace of Granduca is an experience not easily forgotten."


Granduca terrace, Taormina

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