Catania, Sicily

View of Mt. Etna and Catania from the terrace of Ostello degli Elefanti

Horse meat!

In the nearby fish market the vendors shout in incomprehensible dialect rather than Italian.

Statue of a lava elephant in Piazza del Duomo

On Mt. Etna, Sicily

I signed up for a group day excursion to snowshoe up Mt. Etna.  It was beautiful - and amazing to ti be swimming in the Mediterranean one day and to be tromping in deep snow the next.

With a view of the sea in the distance

Geology lessons were part of the tour. Here we checked out the interesting basalt outcrops in La Garganta de Alcantara. These rock formations reminded me of Devils Postpile in California.

Sogno di un Uomo Ridiculo: a WWOOF Farm in Central Sicily

Lemons are just some of the citrus being grown at Salvatore and Francesca's farm outside Caltanisetta in central Sicily.  Besides their four home-schooled chidren, their farm or Il Sogno di un Uomo Ridiculo (The Dream of a Ridiculous Man), hosts goats, ducks, geese, chickens, lots of olive trees, some fruit trees and vegetable gardens.

View from the house across the valley

Teresa and Benedetta...

Teresa is featured in Salvatore's band's music video seen here.

The group is called Pupi di Surfaro.

Broccoli

Almond blossoms...bloomed a month later than normal due to the unusually cold and wet winter in Sicily.

Drying my shoes was a struggle as there was a lot of rain in March.

View of the top of the property and the home - and olives trees we pruned

Francesco and Angie, other WWOOF volunteers from near Piacenza

The goats...

Angie was the resident hair stylist.

Peanut art in the trees

Fava beans (nitrogen fixer and Sicilian delicacy) line the rows between citrus trees.

Taormina, Sicily

Taormina's ancient Greek theater is perched atop a mountain overlooking the Ionian Sea on the east coast of Sicily.

Taormina's Duomo

View of Taormina from above near the Saracen castle

View of Mt. Etna from Castelmola above Taormina

View of the Taormina coast from Castelmola

Isola Bella, along the beach below Taormina

Vendors sell braided palm leaves for Palm Sunday

An amusing municipal sign

Ortigia/Siracusa, Sicily

After listening to a few tunes played by Sandro, a local street accordionist upon arriving in Siracusa (Syracuse), Marié was invited to play.  She quickly learned some traditional Sicilian songs...

Fresh fish in the market

Marié in Piazza del Duomo 

The Duomo in Ortigia...Ortigia was my favorite city that I visited in Sicily. Ortigia makes up the historical center of Siracusa and is an ancient settlement on an island jutting out into the sea and contains funky and narrow streets with friendly locals.

Inside the Duomo, you can see the original columns from when this cathedral was a Greek temple dedicated to Athena.  The Temple of Athena dates back to the 5th century BC and the cathedral from the 7th century.

Sunset from Ortigia

Syracuse's Greek Theater

L'Orecchio di Dionisio (The Ear of Dionysius), a cave near the Greek theater once supposedly used as a prison

Pretty Ortigia...

Marié jams at a restaurant with a new friend.