Saturday, 1 June 2013

Oriana - Day 12 - Catania, Sicily


Day 12 – Catania
For some reason I, like some others, thought today was a sea day! It was a horrible shock to find out it wasn’t!

I got up about 7am and had breakfast before going onto the forward deck. It was grey and showery – such a change from yesterday.
I knew Catania was not a very pleasant city to wander round so had booked a tour to a winery on the slopes of Mount Etna. We left at 9.20 and first drove through Catania to a Zafferano, a small town in the foothills.
We had half an hour to wander round and take photos before driving to the outskirts and a small honey farm. Here we saw how the honey was processed into Propolis, Royal Jelly, honey and pollen, as well as seeing some local olive oils. I bought some honey and some delicious pesto made from sundried tomatoes. Then to a 1992 lava flow where I took more photos and collected a few pieces. This is where I made a mental note to tell the shorex tram to suggest we didn’t wear sandals on this tour!

After trying to de-grit our feet (who knew volcanic dust was so sharp!), we got back on the coach to the winery to see the vineyards and cellars before a local lunch – buffet of anti pasta followed by pasta, aubergines black pig sausages etc – and wine tasting. All followed by coffee and almond biscuits. We tasted two white, two red and a dessert wine, all delicious but quite expensive. It was very strange walking across crunchy grass here, but then we realised the grass was growing through more of the black volcanic fallout. After that is was back to the ship arriving about 3pm, for sailaway at 3.30. It was still showery, although it had remained dry on our tour. At last I have seen Mount Etna properly! After five or so previous visits to Sicily – the top of the volcano had always been shrouded in mist or rain.


We are now on full red level anti norovirus precautions – no nibbles, no canapés, and no bridge tour!! I am not happy as it is impacting on yet another cruise.

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