Holy Cannoli

Hello to all our friends and family.  We miss you all but are really enjoying cruising around the Mediterranean.  This morning we woke up to a great view of the city of Messina in Sicily, Italy.  After breakfast we made our way outside to meet up with our guide for the day, Mario.  Mario drove us through the city and quickly took us out on the highway to our first stop - the town of Taormina.  Along the way we had a view of Mt. Etna as it was sending some steam into the sky.

Mario explained that Taormina was a walled city at one time, and we started at one of the gates to the city.

He led us along the main street explaining some of the old buildings and interesting points.  

We stopped at an ancient coliseum that was uncovered during excavation to build in the city.  

The city was very interesting but full of shops, some interesting and some high-end stores which don't quite go with the ancient nature of the city.  

Many narrow passageways

This city is a favorite of tourists, so it was a bit crowded.  

Lots of steps

Fun, exciting Sicilian musicians

We strolled along for quite a while and came to a plaza with beautiful views and some local musicians entertaining all the tourists, and some were dancing to the sounds.

When we came to the other side of the city, we encountered another gate of the walled city.  It was about lunch time so Mario took us to a great little place that we never would have found on our own. 

We watched as the owner made the focaccia bread pizzas. 

They had a lot of Italian options to choose from so we all were able to find something we liked.  The focaccia was delicious and really, really good and yummy in the tummy! They even had a vegan version for Karen.

Karen and Carla did a little shopping after lunch and then we met up with Mario to start our trip up a very windy road full of hairpin turns to get us to a small town at the top of a mountain called Castelmola.  

The village of Castelmola.

Mario educated us about the building materials that were used hundreds of years ago.  They mixed sand and water to bind the stones together and covered them with cement, but some buildings did not get a covering of cement so the sand and water mixture was exposed to the elements and could easily have been eroded off the building.  

These stairs were so narrow, Mike had to go sideways to fit his shoulders.

This little mountain town was lovely and relaxing, and Carla and Bill decided to follow their lunch with gelato.  Carla and Bill are quickly becoming 'gelato buddies'.  

We strolled around some more and made our way back to the car to start our white-knuckle descent back to Messina.  Mario stopped a few times so we could enjoy the views.

Very unique bar (bar here means bar & restaurant).

More shops

Beautiful cove below

Once back into Messina, Mario asked us if we would like to have some of the best cannoli ever and we couldn't turn that down.  He took us to a small neighborhood street with what looked like only homes but there was one little bakery.  He took us in and introduced us to the owner.  

We were allowed into the kitchen to see the owner make our cannoli.  

Look closely and you'll see her eyes closed because it was heavenly.

AS you see, Karen had chocolate and so did Carla whereas Bill and Mike had the classic variety.  It was delicious and very filling (they make the double version), and Italian Mike declared it the best he had eaten.

We finished our day back at the ship - relaxing and walking around before dinner.  

Oh yea, did we mention, there are lots of stairs?