Day 4-5

Day # 4 Arrived in Messina Sicily. I woke up and  my dad had already been up for a couple hours, he said he saw a volcano in the middle of the ocean. As we were at breakfast Sicily started coming into view. My dad immediately wanted his camera. He's been taking tons of photos. Spent an hour just walking around the boat taking pictures as the island came into view. Went for excursion which was a visit to the town of Taormina, a quick stop at an old lava flow from mt etna and then off to wine tasting. Taormina was a bit touristy but was still very beautiful. Some very old churches there and also an olde Greek theatre. At the top of the theater there were amazing views of mt etna and the coastline. We made sure to taste everything sicily was known for. Had a chocolate cannoli, a rice ball, and real sicilian pizza (its not thick and doughy at all like it is in the US). The lava flow was a quick stop, with a brief pistachio and almond honey tasting. Then on to the wine tasting at a winery. The view here was beautiful, overlooking the orchards and mt etna on the other side. So as it started I thought it was going to be a stingy affair. They said we would taste 3 wines; a red, white and a sweet wine. They started with a glass of white then red but then kept refilling the glasses the second we finished. The "snack" I also had low expectations for but was a nice spread with bruchetta, Italian cheeses, olives, sundried red peppers and onion/olive rolls. Drank and ate so much we didn't think we could eat dinner....but we managed. So my dads thoughts on Sicily "beautiful, breath taking, wish we had more time here...I liked the pizza back in Rome better (alice's). My dad also mentioned that he would love to spend a summer in Rome and that he would never have considered that before this visit. And he mentioned he wants to go to Egypt.....what the heck took so long to get the travel bug??? When were kids we went to the poconos every year until one day we just moved there! That was vacation! I know, I know traveling with 3 kids would have been expensive, but I would have traded 10 of those pocono trips to go to Italy! So it's 9pm and we are both exhausted and will be in Malta nice and early tomorrow! Day #5 Malta never really had a chance. It was a substitute for Athens, and it was never going to make up for it. Strikes in Athens prevented us from stopping there. Malta is actually beautiful, it's European with an Arabic twist. We started with a trip to a little fishing town and got a whopping 45 min which sadly was more then enough. Walked along the shore line taking some photos. Was done with that in like 15, so stopped for a cappuccino which was awful. It tasted like watery milk that accidentally got some coffee spilled in it. But it was early Malta could still redeem itself as we would be making a quick stop at a limestone quarry! Quick stop there and on to the the blue grotto. Ok that was actually beautiful, Malta scored some points there. Got a boat ride into the blue grotto. This is basically a large cavern carved by the ocean with the most blue water you've ever seen, with pink sponges along the floor. They took us to several smaller caves as well and then back to town. Stopped for another try at a cappuccino which also sucked but we put it above the first cup, way below any in rome but slightly above the ship coffee. On the way back to the ship they took us through the town which was actually very cool, even drove us by a movie set (so they say brad/Angelina are there somewhere).  Now back on the boat. Went for an 8 mile run with a beautiful view of Malta. And then went for what was supposed to be a quick snack and turned into a large meal. My dad and I are getting along except for silly little stuff. A lot of is just travel inexperience and I have to remember that. His answer to him not knowing something, is well there should be a sign....no dad it's a cultural thing, they don't need a sign they know already.