We happily spent one week driving around Sicily
taking in the many ancient sites. Our first stop was
Siracusa
(birthplace of the famous Mathematician "Archimedes").
We were surprised to find the well preserved 3rd-4th Century mosaics at the Piazza Armerina . Only rediscovered in 1929, the mosaics depict scenes of courtlife, hunting and mythology.
Remains of Roman and Greek temples/theatres are plentiful. The most outstanding examples are to be found at Agrigento , Segeste and Taormina .
We couldn't resist visiting the home of marsala wine in .... Marsala ... and cooled off in the nearby Alcantara Gorge !
Of course a visit to this island is not complete without a closer look at Mt Etna . The volcano actually erupted on July 17, 2001, destroying the cable car operation and sending lava flows over the ski slopes and road winding up to the viewing area. The local people revere their mountain and after each eruption they busily start the hard work of clearing the area. Just our good luck, we arrived the day before the road was once again "officially opened" so we were able to hike to the closest possible vantage point. Etna is still smoking away!
