The week also revealed that I'm not cut out for organised tour holidays. There's no doubt that we saw more sites than would have been possible had we travelled independently, and the tour manager and the guides he arranged were both knowledgable and entertaining. The week however revealed what I already know about myself, I struggle in social situations where I'm faced with a group of strangers with whom I assume I have little in common. Put bluntly I can't do "small talk".
The other drawback was being the only vegetarian in the party. While that would have been fine in any restaurant, in hotels it seemed to present serious issues. A week of omlettes can't be viewed as acceptable. On the plus side the anti-pasta, the occasional pasta dish and fresh fruit desert meant I didn't go hungry.
It would be easy to simply record the various sites and towns we visited, however I'd rather focus on what I learned about Sicily. Early in the week we visited the "Valley of the Gods" in the South West of the island. As our guide told us the temples were not destroyed not by earthquakes or volcanoes but by something much more dangerous - religious intolerance. Like most Mediteranean islands, history is littered with invasion and conquest.
Midway through the week we visited one of the most complete Roman villas in the world. As we walked around and witnessed the complex arrangements of rooms, baths, and courtyards, it was impossible to forget the immortal line from 'Life of Brin ' " So what have the Romans ever done for us ". In a discussion I managed to initiate the following day I tried to explain the ambivulant attitude that I have to the Romans. Their technological achievements were massive but standing looking at an amphitheatre it's impossible to ignore the unspeakable cruelty and bloodshed they imparted.
Sicily was hit by a catastrophic earthquake in 1693, it destroyed much of the south of the island, which means that the area was nearly totally rebuilt in the baroque style. Siracusa was a wonderful town to walk around, the duoma and other buildings beautifully preserved. Certainly it gave me the desire to return and explore the region further, especially as it contains many of the sites featured in the crime series Inspector Montalbano.
Staying in Taormina, I had the urge to visit and walk by the sea, and so taking a public bus we visited the nearby resort of Gianni Naxos. In October the season was coming to an end. The only people on the beach were locals taking the child to the sea after a day at school. We walked around the bay and took in the whole panorama with Mount Etna in the background,while stopping for a drink at La Sirena bar.
36 hours later Mount Etna erupted, the day after we had visited. We'd seen towns such as Zafferano, previously destroyed by its lava flows and witnessed first hand how local people lived with nature.
Compared with many mediteranean islands, Sicily is rich in history and culture and somewhat undeveloped in terms of mass tourism. All the more reason to plot a return.
