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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