"" Writer's Wanderings: A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts--Sicily

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts--Sicily


From the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius in Naples, our ship moved south to Messina, Sicily, the large island that looks like it’s getting kicked by the boot of Italy. We were surprised at how close together the two land masses are. Our tour in Messina took us near the top of Mt. Etna, an active volcano. The latest large eruptions were in 1992 and in 2002. There is still a small eruption going on opposite of the place we visited and is only visible at night when the glow of the small lava flow can be seen.

This lava looks very different than what we have seen in Hawaii. It has much more iron in it and appears very red. It also seems to be finer—not as heavy as the lava flows look near Hilo. There are several craters rather than just one large one.

The area is also known for its honey production. There was every kind of flavored honey you could imagine. We were told the flavors came from the different types of pollen the bees made their honey from but I suspect some of the flavors, like strawberry, actually had flavoring added.

Moving on to Turkey. . .

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