That same evening, Mt. Etna started erupting with a string of earthquakes. The strongest tremor had a reading of 4.4 on the Richter scale.

The Explore trip was over, but we stayed on two more days in Taormina at the Villa Fiorita. Footsteps from the Theater and historic section, a small and intimate 3*** hotel. Just wandering through the shops, trying different restaurants, relaxing and watching the nighttime fireworks on Mt. Etna.

It was easy to walk up to Castelmoro (a town about 200' above Taormina) for eruption viewing. In Castelmoro, we sat on a bench, watching airplanes and helicopters dropping water on Etna trying to contain the fire of lava destroying the pine woods. In the evening, we'd walk (with the other tourists) to the end of Taormina for a good view of the fire displays, smoke and sparks billowing into the sky. We couldn't actually see the lava flows, and tourists weren't allowed anywhere near Etna. Wouldn't it have been unbelievable to get a closer view?

This went on for three days. The Catania airport is almost at the base of Mt. Etna but planes couldn't fly out because of the volcanic ash. Each airline bused their passengers to Palermo for departures. Driving through Catania, there were thick layers of volcanic ash (it looks like black sand) on everything, people carrying umbrellas and wearing masks. And Mt. Etna still had black smoke billowing out of the top plus the two new fissures.

An "explosive" and unexpected end to our Explore "Classic Sicily" trip. There were lovely old towns and ancient sites to "explore"....excellent food and wine....never saw Michael Corleone wandering around the hills...but we did see Mt. Etna "blow it's top." Don't just think about going to Sicily...do it...it was fantastic and I'd love to go back there...anytime!