Ok so weve spent a few days in and around Sicily. Weve done quite a bit considering the boss is fairly keen to getto croatia. Yesterday it was one of the boys birthdays he turned 7 so for the day we went up Mount Etna. It as myself and the captain that went on the tripe with all the guests and so far ive been on all of them. Mount Etna was cool. Took a tour with the bus and all and then caught the unimog and the gondola up to the top. The mountain is 3300m or so i think but the highest point we were able to go was around 2500 i think. Was nice a fresh up there so the owners forked out and all the guest were decked out in M Etna clothing. Looked pretty funny. Didnt see any lave flows but was very interesting and we waled around for a while checking out all the old flows etc. the last eruption was in 2003 and destroyed all the southern face of the mountain and all the ski areas etc. Something else to say ive done! so it was a good day.
That night we went back to the boat with the guest and they had dinner with cake etc for the birthday. The lucky little dude got an iPad for his birthday as well as a digital camera etc and hes only 7....ha money eh! That night we hauled anchor and move a couple of hours down the coast to siracusa. A bigger town with plenty of history behind it also so was looking forward to getting ashore.
Today was another good day lined up, expecting to be using the toys all day after out wash down, since yesterday was filled with mt etna, we went on another day trip. This time we went to check out the old ruins/remains of an ampitheatre and caves that dated back to BC times. It was all carved out of the rock and took two centuries to create. It was a theatre for entertaining back in the day. Was very impressive to see and can only imagine what it was like back then. Stinking hot today, would have been early 30's and the sun was just beaming off the rocks. I carried around a bag of drinks and snacks for us and the guests so i was cooking. After the tour of the remains we had a little tour of the old town. There was a huge big catholic church which was built around and ancient roman temple or something that had the original pillars which dated 500 BC. How they know the age of these things beats me, but its very impressive anyway. Alot of history to take in here!
So at the moment, after a big day site seeing were heading off to the island of malta. This place is meant to be pretty amazing also so im looking forward to it. Its the boss' birthday tomorrow so im not sure whats going to be instore for us or them but it should be good. Last year they were in turkey for it and ive seen photos of all these turkish birds on the boat dancing etc so well see what happens!
Might catch some Z's now as were meant to be arriving at around 10pm tonight in Malta and its 7pm now. Might have to day an achor watch also which is cruisy. Ya just sit in the bridge and check were not drifing, whilst digging into the fully stocked up fridge....
Well this hard work has made me tired, will post some pics and check in in a few days.
