Our planned ascent to the craters of Mt. Etna had been foiled due to high winds. So finding ourselves with a beautiful, sunny day and nothing else to do, we hopped back in the car and took a long drive around the volcano.
The eastern coast of Sicily is defined by the looming presence of Mount Etna, the largest and most active volcano in Europe. Though it had just erupted spectacularly a few days prior, we couldn't resist checking it out during our final road trip on the island.
If you're an adult human living in the 21st century, you have at some point in your life suffered a catastrophic computer crash. You've been faced with the choice of whether to try and recover your system, or just start fresh with a clean install. And you've probably learned that, almost always, the best option is to start clean and reinstall from scratch. Restorations rarely work and, even if you're able to cobble your computer back to a semi-functional state, there are usually problems. No, it's best to bite the bullet, lose some work, and start over. For metaphorical proof from history, just look at the Sicilian city of Noto.
On our second day in Syracuse, we made our way to the Parco Archeologico della Neapolis, where some of Sicily's greatest ruins are bunched together, almost as though our ancient forebears wanted to facilitate future tourist groups.
Once upon a time, Syracuse was the most mightiest city-state in the world. Ruled by famous tyrants like Dionysius the Elder, and home to Archimedes, one of history's greatest thinkers, the power of Syracuse extended far beyond the Greek Empire, to which it belonged. The city's influence waned only during the Arab occupation of Sicily, when the capital was moved to Palermo.
Rather than have Chucky, our ten-year-old French Bulldog, endure another plane flight alone in the cargo hold, we drove from Rome to Palermo in a rental car. It was a long haul, but allowed us to see the mountains of Calabria and the northern coast of Sicily, and also provided an initial lesson in coping with Italian drivers.
