Hot as Hades Tour Port 1: Messina, Italy

Our first port on our 7 night cruise was Messina, Italy, which is the third largest city on the island of Sicily.  We made it into port around 10 am.  This was a rare port for us because we actually made it to port a little bit later in the morning.  Normally, we arrived in ports in the wee hours of the morning and would wake up to being in a new spot, but this time we actually got to watch the boat dock itself, which is incredible.  It really is amazing what these ginormous ships can do.  Here was our view as we were docking:

Messina is located on the northeast corner of Sicily.  It is almost literally where the boot of Italy is kicking Sicily.  The body of water seperating Sicily from mainland Italy is called the Strait of Messina.

We took the excursion off of the ship that went to Mount Etna and the little village of Taormina.  Mount Etna is an active volcano located on the island.  It is the tallest active volcano on the European continent.  It is 2 1/2 times taller than Mount Vesuvius.  Only Mount Teide, located in the Canary Island of Tenerife surpasses it's height.  We visited Mount Teide during Spring Break this year and so we were looking forward to seeing another volcano and comparing the two.

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity.

Our next top was a short one, but who can come to Italy and not try a cannoli.  The kids didn't love them, but I thought they were scrumptious. A little background on the cannoli.  It actually originated in Sicily and is described as a Sicilian pastry dessert.  Basically the cannoli is a tubed-shaped shell of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet and creamy filling made from ricotta cheese.  Ours had a little sprinkle of pistachio nuts and powdered sugar as well.  

Our final stop on our excursion was the small town of Taormina.  This was such a picturesque little town. Our guide told us that this town is very popular amongst celebrities.  One of the main sites to see in Taormina is the Ancient Greek theatre.  This is one of the most celebrated ruins in Sicily, but unfortunately we didn't make it there.  We had two hot and hungry kids (and Chad) whom didn't want to trek the 30-45 minutes of our hour and a half stay, so food prevailed ruins this time.  It is said that Taormina has popular beaches along the Ionian sea and the water is remarkably warm and high in salt content.

This little town is certainly a location I could go back to and just RELAX near the water.  It was so beautiful...and hot!  We returned back to the ship with only an hour to spare before we disembarked for our next destination: Athens, Greece.  We had an "at sea" day in between Sicily and Greece and lost an hour of time, but I won't bore you with our day of relaxation on the ship. :-) So next up: Athens, Greece and the Acropolis.