Messina & Taormina

Yesterday we docked in Messina. Messina , is being kicked by the toe of Italy's boot. It's a pretty big city and it was our shortest port time of all our stops.

We decided to be able to see anything we should do an excursion so we chose to go to Taormina. One of the first settlements of the area were in the high rocks of Taormina between the 13^th and 12^th centuries BC. It is a town that has been ruled by Greeks, Romans,Spaniards and even for a short time by the French. It's a beautiful place with amazing panoramic views of the sea and Mount Etna Mt. Etna is the largest volcano in europe and the most active in the world.. We visited a theater that has Greek columns and was used for Roman gladiators as well. It used now days for concerts and recently Joe Crocker performed there.

Today is another at sea day but we have to also try to fit everything back in our suitcases as we have to put bags out at 11 P.M. It took some pushing and shoving but we got everything back into the bags even though there was more than we started with.

We dock at 5 AM in Barcelona and will be heading to the airport to fly to Rome where we'll spend the last of our vacation. We'll have FREE internet there and we promise to post more often.