Messina, Sicily and Nafplion, Greece

Thursday, July 3rd

Messina, Sicily and Nafplion, Greece

On Tuesday arrived in Sicily, met with our new friends Charlene & Jerry of Naples, Florida, and were off on our private tour of Mt Etna and Taormina. Our driver/guide was Giovonni and we all hit it off wonderfully! We drove to Mt Etna, which is currently in a slow state of eruption. There was a thunderstorm on the mountain, higher up, which added to the desolate and eerie atmosphere! You can see where the last big eruption, in 2001, covered a house. Next, Giovanni took us through Cantania, another large town in northern Sicily, before we headed off for the mountains and Taormina. Giovanni literally took us to the gate of the ancient Sicilian town and told us how to reach him at the lower end (thank God!!). We strolled through the town and finally reached the Ancient Greek/Roman Theatre, built in the 3rd century BC. After a few more photo-friendly spots, Giovanni drove us back to our ship, arriving almost at the gangway! We had a wonderful day!

On Wednesday we arrived in Nafplion, Greece. This is a beautiful little town on the coast of the Ionian Sea. We tendered and arrived directly in front of the town. We boarded our bus, destined for ancient Greek ruins of the Peloponnese city of Mycenae. It was a very interesting ride through the countryside. The ruins were impressive, but too much for me to climb much of (it was very hot!). Jack did climb most of the way, but found it very rocky and slippery from wear. After returning to town we visited the Palamidi Castle, perched high above the town. The views were great. We had the choice of returning to the lower town by bus or walking down the stairs to town, all 999 of them. This was a no-brainer! We walked briefly through town before boarding the tender back to "Home Sweet Ship!"