Sicily Day 5

Our last Hotel in Sicily was set on a vineyard in an old Baglio House. It was very nice but a little too cold to swim.

This is the town of Trapini. We didn't spend any time there but had to drive through to get to the Medieval, hill top village of Erice.

This was our Fiat! OUr friends who visited Sicily before us said to be sure to get as small a car as possible due to the incredibly small roads! We did our best! Not easy to get a small car when you have 6 passengers. It actually worked out really well comfort wise but Travis has some pretty tight spots to squeeze through and there was no GPS. We managed to make it all the way around the island with no scratches and only a few wrong turns!

Kaelan and Pinocchio

He is Italian but I'm not sure where he is from in Italy but there were Pinocchio souvenirs everywhere! 

This is Erice

It was a very pretty town and we would have like to see more of it but after 20 mins on top of the hill a huge rain storm chased us off. We were soaked and the fog was so thick we couldn't see anything. So we headed back to the hotel.

Another shot of Erice

The weather was decent back at our hotel so Travis, the kids and I took a walk to an abandoned Baglio across the vineyard from our hotel. 

Kaelan had a great time exploring and loved all the beetles we came across. 

Do you see it?

The cow up on the roof terrace?

After exploring around the abandoned house we could see that walls were crumbling and trees and shrubs growing out of control but when we made it to the back Travis spotted this cow! It was crazy! After Travis climbed up on the rubble he saw that someone has their herd in the back garden and one of them must have climbed then stairs in the house to the roof terrace! So strange.

That evening, Nancy let the big kids go out to eat while she stayed back with the little kids! It was so nice of her and we had a great time having an adult only meal. Oh, it was so wonderful! 

The next morning we had to get up early for our 6:15 flight back to the Netherlands. yuck!

Sicily- Day 4

 On Day 4 we switched hotels driving from one side of the island to the other with a couple stops along the way. We managed 6 hours of driving and the kids did surprisingly well! 

First Stop- Villa Romana Del Casale

This villa was built in the 4th century AD for the home of an upper class farmer in the Roman Empire. The size of the villa and the amount and quality of the mosaics indicate this was a very important family.

The mosaics were on every floor throughout the entire Villa.

Mosaic

This is a Mosaic! Can you believe the detail? They were incredible!

On our drive we stopped to examine the Almonds growing on the trees.

Second Stop- Valley of the Temples

These temples were built in the 6th and 5th centuries BC and 7 Temples remain. They are the best examples of Greek architecture outside of Greece. This is one of the main attractions in Sicily and is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Climbing

Even Coco got to climb around in the 6th/5th century bc ruins!

Serious climbing!

This had to be K's favorite day. He go to do all kinds of climbing and exploring!

It was a beautiful day! We all had a great time on day 4 despite all the driving!

Scary Sicily Snake Spotting!

Day 3 Sicily

Mt. Etna

On day 3 we took a drive from our hotel at Gardini Naxos up onto Mt. Etna. 

 Mt. Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active volcanoes in the world. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky, and the forges of Hephaestus were said to also be located underneath it. This mountain has made a lot of history!

We took a small hike around a crater just so we could say we touched this historical mountain!

Sicily- Day 2

Taormina, Sicily (Italy)

Coco at the Greek Theater in Taormina with Mt. Etna smoking behind her 

After flying in and driving for four hours on day 1 we were ready for some sight seeing on day 2!

You will see a trend with Kaelan through out this trip. He climbed on everything and he could so we let him. Not every day you get to climb on ruins from the 5th and 6th century bc! 

This is a view of the stage while sitting in the stands at the Greek Theater. 

I would love to see a show with that view, not to mention Mt. Etna off to the right!

Aunt Nancy (or Grandma as K would say) and Kara

Our wonderful travel companions who put up with our kids (on airplanes, long hours in the car, running wild, nap schedules, kids activities, etc!) and they even seemed to have a really good time.

Climbing an olive tree

Here is a view of Taormina with Mt. Etna looming overhead.

I think Taormina was everyone's favorite stop. It is a beautiful city that sits impossibly on a cliff overlooking the sea and Europe's most active volcano, Mt. Etna! How can you beat that?

Mt. Etna through an arch at the Greek Theater

Beautiful old streets in Taormina

A highlight for Kaelan was taking the cable car up to Taormina and back down to our car. Thank goodness for the cable car because we were driving a beast of a car (pics to come) and the streets are way too narrow for most cars, excluding the smart car..maybe.

We did get to dip our toes in the Ionian Sea but it was really cold. After a few minutes playing here we headed back to the pool, which was cold well!

Kaelan loved every minute at the hotel. He could swim, play at the play ground and they even had a kids club where he got the attention of all six of the ladies working! We loved it too because kids were all over and no one seemed to mind the noise, messes and craziness. 

Warming up in his new Euro sunglasses after a cold swim at the pool