August 3rd - Messina

We had to get up early this morning because our tour was leaving by 7:15 so we had to be in the lounge at 6:45.  They first took us to see the church in Messina, really it was to look at the clock.  It would have been a site to see at 12:00 with all of the people moving.  We then headed up to Taromina.  We had to switch from our tour bus to a smaller city bus that could get us up to the town.  We then quickly walked through the old city and looked out at some beautiful ocean views.  She then headed us over to the Greek theatre. They still use the theatre today for concerts and plays.  We were suposed to have some free time but it seemed to be over before we could really see the town.  We did get a canoli that Roger & I shared and then Mike & Pam got one to eat together as we were waiting for everyone to show up. We then headed to a restaurant where we ate lunch.  The served us salad, two types of pasta and sauces and then some ice-cream for dessert. They also had wine & water to drink.  We sat in the wrong location because it got pretty warm where we were sitting.  Once lunch was over and we all got back on the bus we headed up to Mt. Etna.  The volcano had erupted a few days earlier but there wasn't any signs of lava flow for us to see.  I was surprised at how loose the lava was although there were some big rocks that had been spit out at one time or another.  We were glad we were on a Carnival tour because we didn't get back to the ship until after the time we were supposed to be back on board.  We got cleaned up and ready for dinner and headed back up to deck 5 to watch as we sailed pass Stromboli which is another active volcano.  I'm pretty sure that if it had been dark we would have seen some red sparks because it hiccuped a couple of black plumes of smoke.  It just suprises me that people live on the island and that it is a tourist destination, since it is not a very large island but mostly just the volcano and a very active one at that.