More of Northern Sicily

25 May 2016

Palermo has a striking backdrop.

This is bulk olive oil. These are 200L drums, and the picture shows only a small part of the drums stored. This is big, big business here. 

Another huge industry is farming prickly pear! Yes prickly pear! Now my Italian friends may not think much of this but the Australians  (particularly the Queenslanders) will be horrified. 

These are prickly pear farms, seen over a wide area of Sicily, and also elsewhere in Italy. What do they market them for? I don't know! The fruit? For jam? The whole plant is actually edible. You can fry the "leaves" if you shave off the prickles. and slice them. We didn't see them in shops. and I haven't tried the leaves. The jam is good though! 

26 May 2016

We drove today towards Messina where we will cross by ferry to Calabria, on the Italian mainland. 

During the journey we saw Mt Etna once again, this time sitting quietly. She seems like an old friend now, seen through the haze which plagues Italy, and much of Europe. 

We can also see the Aeolian Islands of the North Coast, also through the haze, but rather pretty. 

Stromboli, one of the Aeolian Islands is also an active volcano. Between this and Etna there is often a smoke haze over northern Sicily. Some say it is the volcanos, some say Saharan dust. Others say it is simple pollution, aggravated by the volcanoes. Since it is all over Europe I think the latter explanation might be close to the truth. 

We stopped for a lunch break. This was our view! Notice the sailing boat. Cafe Matilda popped up again and we had bruschetta for lunch.

We reached Missina and caught the ferry at about 4pm. We arrived in Calabria at about 4.20 pm, after a very efficient and smooth passage. 

This is our track in Sicily,1331.4 km. and we enjoyed it all! 

Mt. Etna

17th May 2016

Today's blog is a photo shoot of Mt. Etna -and one of the best/most interesting camp-sites we have found for quite awhile! 

Photos like these are often labelled -"hope"!

And the mountain!

Etna -smoking! 

Earthcruiser at Etna-smoking! 

We camped here, enjoying the black landscape, but soon became aware of the rumbling from the mountain! This was a new experience for us. Should we assume this was normal? Or was the mountain about to erupt? 

There was a small amount of passing traffic and none of it seemed to be pannicking. So the locals didn't seem to be worried! But do we trust the locals? Well at home we know that the locals very often underestimate the risk from our own hazards -like cyclones, crocodiles, and stingers. 

Oh well. We found that we couldn't hear the rumbling from inside the camper -so we decided to sleep on it. I did though, veto the idea of going further out of sight where we wouldn't be seen by any authority evacuating the area.....😅

18 May 2016

Well if yesterday impressed us with the rumblings of the mountain, today had more! When we awoke the rumbling had increased and the mountain was much more dramatic! 

We travelled on to Etna Sud where there is a cable car and 4wd drive tours much closer to the crater. 

But when we got to the top of the cable car we found that the 4wd trips had been temporarily stopped because of dramatic action from the mountain. 

The rumbling had become much louder and more often and the emissions from the crater more dramatic. We did eventually get taken up closer to the crater but the walks had been cancelled because of the increased risk. 

In fact we noticed that the staff were bringing down buildings from near the crater, presumably because of the risk of a significant eruption. We were told that last time the volcano was this active was Dec 2015. 

As the day wore on we noticed increasing activity, with increasing solid matter being erupted and occasional red molten material being thrown up. 

It was an exciting day! We felt the money we spent on the cable car and 4wd tour were well worth it. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime for us! What more can Sicily bring up for us!

I did get some great videos of the action but so far haven't managed the technology to get them from the camera to the blog. If I do manage this I will load them on to the Facebook page. Search Facebook for "Waltzing Matilda -our Earthcruiser journey around the world". 

Ciao.

Sicily- Taormina and Castelmola

16th May 2016

We have been having a rest! We have been suffering from travel fatigue! So for the last few days we have been in a camper park, sleeping late, eating out, and generally doing nothing much. 

But we have been out to see a few of the sights, especially these nearby unmissable places. 

The above photos are of the Sicilian coastline. And then we came to Taormina! 

This is the island of Isolabella. It was privately owned last century but was declared a national monument and is now open to the public. It really is enchanting!

Behind Taormina is Castelmola, a hill top town with stunning views of the coast. 

Also in Taormina is an ancient amphitheatre, first built in 2nd or 3rd century BC and then altered in 2-3rd centuries AD by the Romans. 

And that is Mt Etna in the background. We will have a closer view of Etna in the next few days so 

I will leave that for then! 

There are lots of prickly pears bushes around here, obviously a popular ornamental, but becoming a pest in places. For Australians this is not a surprise, but Italians may not know what a problem this plant has been for Australia. It was brought by immigrants (Sicilians perhaps?) and spread to cover thousands of hectares of farming land. It was eventually controlled by bringing in "Cactoblastis moth" a natural pest on prickly pear. This has greatly reduced the plants and they are no longer a problem. 

In this camping ground there are a number of Australian plants such as silky oaks, callistemons, and eucalypts. So the movement of plants went both ways.

And on the subject of immigrants, the owner of this camp ground, Lagani Camper Park, had an ancestor who went to Australia and became a cane cutter in Innisfail. There are still relatives there and in Tully, including a "Lagarni Cafe" in Tully. Small world. 

We know there have been many Italian migrants to Australia, with the sugar cane growing areas of Innisfail and Tully, and the fishing areas of Western Australia around Freemantle having large numbers of Sicilians. I know people with names like Ceruti, and Di Giacamo from Tully. 

And one last thing....I have 99 "likes" on my Waltzing Matilda Facebook page. So hopefully it will go over 100 with the publishing of this blog update! That is amazing to me! The Facebook page has additional content to this blog, such as videos, as well as some discussion from readers. The two platforms compliment each other. So if you haven't already, check Facebook. You will recognise the muddy vehicle from the top of the blog. Maybe you can be my 100th "like"?

https://www.facebook.com/WaltzingMatilda2016/

Ciao!