Tatata

シチリア、カターニァ在住の女性による、シチリアのお祭り、近郊の観光案内、エトナ山について、カターニァ空港からのアクセス、などが詳しいサイト。

（Ja:User:151.20.128.72によりJa:シチリア島へ投稿されたもの。）

Bill-on-the-Hill

So with the trip done, here are a few capsule reviews of some of the outfits we dealt with. The meaning of the letter grades is:

Bill-on-the-Hill

The last full day of our Volcano Discovery outing, and we've saved the best for last. This was the day for descending the Valle del Bove, a massive collapse structure on the side of Mount Etna. I've been in a lot of mountain valleys in my life, but it's fair to say I'd never been in one quite like this before, and with a fantastic going-away banquet afterward in Nicolosi town to boot.

Marco explaining a photogenic bit of Valle del Bove geology to WGMIL (World's Greatest Mother-In-Law), while Z, D and Emily look on.

Bill and Pete in the Valle del Bove, having a typical brotherly competition to see who can look more nonchalant while surrounded by wonders.

Yes, we really did just come down that -- and there are two thousand feet of it left to do.

The parade plunge-stepping into the Valle del Bove. This shot only hints at the Stygian nature of the place; to the eye, the rock is much darker, and to the feet, the grade is much steeper, than the photo suggests.

Bill-on-the-Hill

The big thing about this day was that it stank. Well, actually, that was the whole idea, because our destination was the active crater of Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes and its second largest source of malodorous sulfur dioxide and other evil gases. Why, you say, would anyone want to go to such a place? Read on ...

Yes, D, the summit of Etna smells REALLY bad...

The active summit crater of Etna, belching out all manner of gross stuff.

The shuttles that take one from the top of the Sapienza funicular to the starting point for hikes to the summit of Etna, if you're crazy enough to want to do that. Lots of bleak here...

Bill-on-the-Hill

This was a comparatively quiet day, most of it spent getting from point to point in preparation for the real fun stuff that would follow over the next two days. It did, however, involve a stop at a real Acme of Amphorae, a Paragon of Pottery, an Excelsior of Earthenware, an Ultra of Urns. This foray into archaeology wasn't really what we had made this trip for, but even complete whackos like us need to do some conventional tourism some of the time.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Fourth day of the trip, and time to start doing what we came for, namely hiking into some weird places -- like, say, the crater of an active volcano.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Not much to report on this day, most of it being taken up with travel, so I'll be brief. There's a nice photo coming at the bottom, however.

The Italian resort village of Taormina, seen through the ruins of the ancient amphitheater, with Mount Etna in the background.