Sicily Part 1

Start the presses I'm back for another round. I am now going to begin on the difficult task of compiling the past few weeks of activities into one week. This post will cover Sicily part one, tomorrow Sicily part two. For some, these posts might be enhanced by finding a map of Sicily online and tracing the route we took. You do you.

Simplified schedule-
Saturday October 11th- Leave Rome at 8:30, drive south to Paestum and explore that sight and area, stay in Paestum
Sunday October 12th- Leave Paestum at 8:30, drive south to Foce del Sele (literally just a field, was not impressed), then Polla (literary just a side of the road inscription, still not impressed), then Reggio Calabria (tip of the boot, was impressed).
Monday- Leave Reggio Calabria at 8:30, hop on ferry and cross from mainland Italy to Sicily! Go to site of Taormina, then leave for Castle of Euryalus, then finally Syracuse (hotel at the pool we stayed at, so clutch)
Tuesday-Leave hotel at 8:30, spend the day exploring Syracuse, then drive to Enna (literally middle of nowhere, if there were thunderstorms and flickering lights we would have been in a horror movie) for the night

The pictures!

Saturday- Left my camera on the bus, rookie mistake, but I make up for it. The sight of Paestum was really cool, a Greek colony (most of Sicily is influenced by the Greeks, but it becomes a mess of Carthaginians, Arabs and eventually Vikings) and a little different than what we've seen in Rome. We also drove by Vesuvius and Naples on the way down, which was really cool.

Sunday- Getting to be near the water and in the town at the tip of the boot (Sicily is less than a mile away by boat) was a real treat. Plus the town was a little more festive, residential, and stared at the Americans much more. Here's what we saw:

Modern art sheesh!

 We got to see what are called the Riace bronzes, based off the locale they were found. They are ancient Greek bronzes that survived (most bronzes from Classical history were melted and reused) because they were in a ship wreck under water. Now they're in Reggio Calabria.

Monday-

Getting ready to cross over

So that's where Elvis got off to, Taormini

Theater at Taormini, Etna is the mountain behind it

Castel of Euryalus, built to defend against attacking Athenians in Syracuse

Tuesday-

Franco asked if anyone wanted to eat fresh oyster. I obviously did, and there's a video somewhere of me doing it

Another theater!

Athenians try to sack Syracuse, get whooped, and enslaved in this quarry to dig for sandstone

Arena, kind of like a mini Colosseum

Lots of cool things, more to come. As always post questions or comments in the comments section and I'll make an effort to answer them. See you tomorrow!