Tricia and I finally found a cake topper that we both could agree on. The cake topper is a tree created from gold wire with gemstone leaves. It will go very well with the autumn theme of our wedding.
Tricia and I like it so much that we ordered a smaller one for every member of the wedding and our parents & grandparents.
While Tricia and I were heading back from Catania we ran into Tory from the show Mythbusters at the Rome Airport.
At first both Tricia and I weren't sure it was really him but we sure after a bit. I went up and talked to him and after talking for awhile we both got our picture taken with him.
Before we left, Tricia took some more photos of the hotel.
The Romano Palace was the first five star hotel either Tricia or I had stayed at, to say that it was very nice was an understatement. One of the nicest things they had (besides the pool) was reservations at a beach.
Tricia and I used the reservation twice. The beach was just across the street and we got a free beach umbrella and lounge chair. The sand and everything on the beach was clean and quite nice (though hot). The sand was surprisingly nice, especially given that a lot of the beaches around are gravel or rocks.
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| View more photos of the Hotel |
After a day at the beach, Tricia and I headed out to Syracusa. We walked around the Ortygia, the picturesque center of the old greek city. The views into the sea were amazing and all around the island were abandoned quays and still used pries.
Tricia particularly enjoyed an area on the south side of the island where there was a tranquil pool surrounded by quaint old buildings and the sea.
After walking around the city for some time, Tricia and I stopped for a light meal and granitas at a small restaurant on the Piazza Duomo before heading out.
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| View more pictures of Syracusa |
Trish snapped some night pictures of the hotel, Romano Palace, while coming back one day. As well as our trusty steed an Alpha Romeo 147.
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| View more photos of the Romano Palace at Night |
On Sunday, Tricia and I decided to see some parts of Catania we hadn't seen before.
The first place we went to was the massive church of San Nicolo just north of the center of town. From what I have found out the Church is part of a larger monastery, but there doesn't seem to be much information available. The church was as impressive as it was abandoned. Massive stone columns rose half way up the face of the church terminating at different heights while plants and moss decorated the deteriorating building.
Although the church was really cool, the neighborhood it is in was seedy to say the least so Trish and I just took a few pictures before heading out.
Next, we went to see the massive Triumphal Arch of Piazza Palestro. Composed of a mix of dark and light stone the arch stood at the end of a piazza flanked with purple flowering trees and fountains.
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| View More Pictures of Catania |
Here are some more photos from Palermo off another memory card. There really was some nice stuff in the city, just a lot of garbage as well though.
After going to Syracusa, Tricia and I decided to head across Sicily to go to Palermo. We did a bunch of research and found all sorts of lovely sights and things to do in Polermo, including what was supposed to be the most beautiful church in the world.
We also arrived in the middle of a garbage collector's strike.
Trish and I walked/drove around the city for about 20 minutes and took some pictures of some of the more interesting buildings.
But we didn't stay for long. There was garbage just about everywhere, striking workers and when we tried to leave, a truck blocking in my car. After tipping (bribing) the owner of the truck to move it, we were on our way out of Palermo. I guess you just win some and lose some.
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| More pictures from Palermo |
After Mt. Etna, Tricia and I decided to go to Syracusa the next day. Syracusa was one of the major seats of the Grecian world and was the birthplace of Archimedes.
To explore the city's Grecian past Tricia and I went to the Archeological park. The highlights included the theatre, which although not as well preserved as the one in Taormina was still impressive. The Ear of Dionysius was also extremely impressive, a massive cave where the slightest sound was echoed and amplified. When we entered a woman was singing into a notch in the wall, the echoes were haunting and beautiful.
Unfortunately a good portion of the park including the tomb of Archimedes was closed, so Tricia and I headed into town earlier than expected. The Piazza Duomo in Syracuse is a large, open square with white stone paving and white stone buildings. The main attraction is the large cathedral, which was build over a Greek temple, inside the cathedral you can still see the aged columns of the temple.
After a delicious lunch, Tricia and I walked down one of the main shopping streets, taking pictures before heading out.
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| See more pictures from Siracusa |
Mt. Etna dominates the landscape for miles around Catania and is the second largest volcano in Europe and one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Being up on Mt. Etna was a first for Tricia and I, neither of us had ever been on an active volcano.
Tricia and I first drove up to the Silvestre crater. This crater seems large enough to be a volcano in it's own right, however it is only one of the smaller craters lining the mountain.
The landscape around around and within the crater would best be described as 'martian' huge volcanic rocks were littered randomly and you could clearly see cooled lava flows. The volcano had obviously erupted relatively recently as there was a swath of rubble and ash through the forest surrounding the mountain around where we stood.
Trish and I decided we wanted to see more of the volcano so we grabbed a ticket and rode the cable car up the mountain. Once we had reached the end of the cable car we boarded one of the buses to take us the rest of the way up the mountain. The buses were obviously custom and looked like a school bus with monster truck tires.
The bus wound through paths cut through the ice on the top of the mountain and we finally stopped on a wide plane between the four major craters of Mt. Etna. In the north you could see the tallest crater smoking.
With a tour group following, Tricia and I hiked through snow and ice then up and around the nearest cone. The view was incredible, you could see for miles.
As we descended into the cone nearer to the base the smell of sulfer became stronger and stronger. You could clearly see steam rising off the ground beneath your feet as melted snow and runwater evaporated off the heated ground.
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| See more pictures from Mt. Etna |
Trish and I had already visited Taormina during her previous trip to Sicily back in January. However, since Taormina is a big tourist destination, and the tourist season had just begun, we decided to give it another go.
One of the highlights of our visit to Taormina was the Greek Theatre, a massive, actively used theatre in the northern part of town.
We both enjoyed walking through the narrow, quaint streets in the medieval town. Tricia enjoyed it so much, in fact, that she even allowed me to snap a photo of her in front of one of the main churches on the Piazza Duomo.
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| Click here to see all of the pictures from Taormina |
During our first weekend in Sicily, Tricia and I went to Agregento to visit the Valley of the Temples, one of the most impressive remnants of the Grecian Sicily.
We drove about 2 hours from Catania to get to Agregento. Trish was excited to get out of the city and get some pictures of the countryside, even if mostly from the car. Rural Sicily really is quite charming, especially with Mt. Etna rising over top of the fields.
Tricia and I arrived at Agregento around mid-day, and immediately I regretted not having shorts. It was at least 80F and I was wearing jeans. Walking up the hill was breathtaking as you passed the stone monuments from ages ago.
The best preserved of the temples is the Temple of Concordia, which was once used as a church.
After walking through the entire site but before returning to the car, Tricia and I enjoyed a well-deserved Granita and water before heading back to Catania.
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| Here are all of the photos from the Valley of the Temples. |
Here are some old(er) pictures from Tricia's trip to Sicily in January 2009. I had been working in Sicily since November for STMicro and the company offered to fly Tricia out to visit.
The first set of photos are a collection of photos from Catania, where we were based. On the first day in Sicily Trish and I walked all around Catania, seeing many of the lovely (and not so lovely sites).
During the weekend Tricia and I rode along to my co-worker Matias and his wife Tijana to Messina:
And Taormina:
