TAORAMINA - DAY 10

Six of us hired a driver to take us to the town of Taormina on our first full day in Syracuse.

Mt Etna did us a great favor by erupting with a spout of smoke to entertain us on the way.

The view changed continuously as we drove north along the highway near the eastern coast.

Taromina lies on the slopes of Mt Tauro almost at the border of the province off Catania.  Greek in origin, it grew up in the fourth century B.C, with a beautiful view overlooking the Ionian coast with Mr Etna as a backdrop.

Parking outside the city wall, the fist thing we encountered was a vegetable stand.

Passing through the city walls into the city of Taormina we peeked into this church with lovely purple stone pillars.

Since motorized vehicle were prohibited with the town, we saw the postman's transportation parked momentarily along side of a building.

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As I wandered and took pictures, Chuck looked for restaurants for lunch, I knew he would find a good one - he is very experienced,

I, however was fascinated by this little battery operated biker, who as he circled his box caused the battery operated little dog to back as he passed.

I found a courtyard overlooking the water that had this great view of Mt Etna.

While Chuck, almost patiently, waited for me to stop taking photos.

But I couldn't resist the lovely balcony full of flowering plants,

Or this display of fresh lemons and fruit,

Or the bakery window filled with some of the best Sicily has to offer.

 

Later, meeting up again with our friends, we returned to Chuck's pick for lunch, "Romeo & Juliet" spread out at the top of a steep set of steps near the city wall.

We all enjoyed our lunch and the company of Cindy and Peggy.

We finished our time there with a ride to the top of the mountain with our guide,

Where the view down to the Ionian Sea was spectacular,

And the Gelato while sitting in these fur covered seats the best.

SYRACUSE LAST DAY - DAY 11

Wakening quite early on our last full day in Sicily, I was treated to this lively sight from our hotel window.

The clear sky gave us the promise of a beautiful day, as one lonely fisherman returned with his morning catch.

We had made plans with our new friends to take a boat ride around the island, so we walked down to
bridge where we were to find our boat and captain.

Seeing the Island from the water gave us a whole new prospective.  This was one of the beaches which we had not seen from land.

We visited several natural caves carved into the porous limestone, this one that looked like a heart.

The interior of some were very colorful, purple near the water with shades of green and lavender nearer the ceiling.

Our captain seemed to enjoy his job.

We passed the site of our hotel with its green shutters and restaurant on the upper floor.

We passed the Castle Maniace which stands on the tip of the island of Ortygia, where it was built in the first half of the 13th cent. by Frederick II.  It was one of the places we had hoped to tour, but never found it open.

We passed the waterfront where we had walked our first day looking for a place to have lunch.

Under the low bridge and back to the mooring,

Where the fisherman was still working at repairing his nets. 

One of the things I had noted while on our boat ride was a lot of kayaks lined up on the shore.  I had to walk back to see what was going on.  We watched a group of young people getting into their kayaks, with great difficulty, with the help of their instructor who gathered them all on the water for their lesson.

A walk through the market provided many subjects for my camera, such as these packets of spices and nuts and bowls of olives.

And these freshly caught fish. The upsetting thing here for my husband was the dark ones in the foreground, labeled tuna.  As sport tuna fishing off the New Jersey coast, babies this size are always returned to the sea to grow full size, and hopefully procreate.

We stopped, on our way back towards the hotel, at the Archimedes Museum, a wonder hands on museum about the man in Syracuse who almost 2,000 years before Galileo and Newton had intuited
most of the pillars that support today's mathematics and science.  This display represented the legend of how, during the Roman siege of Syracuse Archimedes arranged huge mirrors in a parabolic curve to concentrate the sun's rays on the Roman ships to burn them.

This old bicycle fascinated me with the explanation that "before chains, cogs and gears were invented, it was firmly believed that the bigger the diameter of the wheel, the more the bicycle would move forward.  Hence, the huge wheels of early bicycles."

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We walked back through Cathedral Square where I spotted a building I had not noticed earlier.

And sitting on the Cathedral steps,

was another bride and groom about to have their photo taken by a professional photographer, and me.

Back on the waterfront for a nice lunch we watched a waiter work on a whole fish that had been baked in salt.  It was quite a job breaking into the crust and pealing it away, but no doubt it was delicious - as was everything in Sicily.  It was a wonderful trip in every way!!!

FEBRUARY & MARCH IN CRESTED BUTTE

Now that winter is winding down in the Colorado mountains, I am finally getting back to my blog. It has been another dry winter with way below our normal snow fall. Blue Mesa which collects the water from the streams and snow run-off was the lowest last summer I have seen it since we moved to Crested Butte 17 years ago. I hate to see it this summer!!  

However we have had some beautiful sunsets and sunrises when the bright orange and red clouds reflecting the sun's rays, turned the landscape purple.  

And some mornings when a passing snowstorm left the ground and trees newly covered with a fresh blanket of white.

  The snowplows out early left interesting patterns on the snow banks on the side of the road.

And our winter visitors stopped by when they were hungry.

Our visiting foxes still arrived looking for a handout when they were hungry.  
The town of Crested Butte geared up for one of the main mid-winter skiing attractions , "The Alley Loop". Part of the American Ski Marathon Series and an American Birkebeiner qualifying race, the Alley Loop is also Crested Butte’s largest costume party and biggest Nordic event of the year. The Alley Loop’s unique course starts and finishes in the heart of downtown Crested Butte at Second and Elk. In between it meanders through snow-lined alleys, behind false-fronted stores and restaurants, over footbridges and alongside residences. The adult races, longer than 5k, head out to the expertly groomed Nordic trails on the pristine outskirts of Crested Butte. The 5k has a NEW route which stays in town and no longer tackles that big hill! In addition to the fun races for all ages and abilities, the event also features a Friday night pub-ski crawl, Saturday Taste of the Alley and New Belgium Beer Garden, and an awards ceremony with great prizes and a raffle.
 

  At the start of some of the races there was a variety of costumes, including one hardy sole with bare legs.

  One of my favorites was this team of 5 gnomes with the slogan "there is no place like gnomes".


Costumes are a big part of Winter in Crested Butte.  Mardi Gras his year was February 9th, and       started off with this Butte Beauties Party!!

       

Followed a few days later with the 4th annual "Cuatra Amigos" Birthday Bash.

There is little "Down Time" in this ski town