Igoumenitsa, Greece

From Catania, Sicily, we took an overnight bus to Brindisi, Italy. We just wanted to get to Greece. Of course almost everything was closed. We found a ticket office for the ferries. They didn't actually sell ferry tickets, but they said there was a bus every 20 mins that ran from the corner to the ferries. 2 hours later - still no bus.

We eventually got to the port, where we got a ticket for the next ferry leaving Italy. Corfu was where we wanted to go, but Igoumenitsa was the soonest option. It's a long distance from Italy to Greece. On the way we enjoyed the view.

We arrived in Igoumenitsa, Greece just as the sun set.

The next night we took an overnight bus to Athens. We had intended to sleep on the bus. For some reason, the bus got into Athens a few hours earlier. It was 3am, and we were dropped in the sketchiest "I'm going to get murdered" bus station in my entire life. We walked outside, and the bus station isn't in the center of Athens: it was on the side of the highway. We took a taxi to the nearest, cheapest hotel to get out of there.

Catania, Sicily

We spent an extra day in Catania since we found a really nice hostel. Catania is a nice city, but suffers from the same problems that most Sicilian cities do. Shops and hotels are only open when they feel like it, the people aren't very friendly, and nothing makes sense. For example: the "Etna" Bus Company doesn't sell tickets to Mount Etna.

In the middle of the city is the ruins of an ancient Roman Colosseum. You don't know it's there until you walk up to it. Where there should be a building, is just a hole in the ground. Look down and you see a sixth of what used to be an ancient Colosseum from Roman occupation. We snuck in at just the right time and had the place to ourselves!

Attached to our hostel was a bar. For some reason, that bar had an underground cave, with a river running through it. When we were looking for our hostel, we stopped by the bar to ask if they knew where they were. Before I could say anything, the bartender asked "would you like to see the underground cave". Of course the answer was yes.

Finally we left Sicily. It will not be missed. I'm not even going to go into how much trouble it is to travel in Sicily, or communicate, or understand signs - so instead here is a picture of me on our ferry to Greece.

Mount Etna Panoramas

This first image is half way up the mountain. Looking over dormant craters - towards the peak of Etna you can see the clouds about to go through it.

This second picture is at the top. Silent Hill mixed with Mars Landing!

Mount Etna

After we escaped Villafranca - we took the bus to Catania, where we stayed for a few days and took a day trip to Mount Etna - an active volcano. On the bus ride up - you can see the remains from previous eruptions, where the lava overtook many buildings.

From the "gift shop area" we took a gondola ride up to the way-way top. (thanks mother!) On the way up you could see plants trying to grow in the sharp, violent landscape.

Etna is the highest volcano in Europe, and stands at 10,922 ft. Once we started walking we realized how quickly we ran out of breath at such a height. Some people payed for rides in Jeeps with giant wheels, but we decided to rough it.

We were hiking at cloud level. All of a sudden clouds would sweep across the landscape - and the temperature would drop to freezing. Visibility would drop to near zero - and it felt like we stepped into a horror movie. After a few minutes of hiking, we were completely alone on the mountain.

We hiked for an hour. A hiker informed is that unfortunately, the crater was closed... because it was active and spewing lava - however between clouds we saw what we thought was a steaming crater.

Mount Etna was an incredible experience. We didn't see any lava, or spewing fire - but we walked through a completely foreign world - where not a single plant lived, the ground was barren, black and sharp, and where it could go from clear, to freezing cold and almost no visibility in just a few minutes. What ended up chasing us down was a hail storm - the most intense hail storm I've ever been in - where the hail hurt if the pellets hit your bare skin.

Villafranca, Sicily

Our next workaway was in Villafranca, Sicily. We took the bus from Trapani, to Sciacca, where our host picked us up..... yeah...... Franco says he is the President of Sicily. Villafranca is in the middle of nowhere. Geographically, and culturally. I'm not about to return to Sicily any time soon.

Some of the funny traditions include: if someone is feeling lazy - they don't go to work. If someone is tired, or hungover, or bored... they don't open their shop. Nothing is every open - and no one is going anywhere. If someone you know (in a town of 500 people this happens a lot) is driving by - they stop in the middle of the street, blocking traffic, to have a conversation. Here is our host doing just that on the main street through town.

Not only is Villafranca in the middle of nowhere, but we lived on the outskirts. Our water came from a spring in the ground filled with frogs, we ate pasta with leaves from the "garden" every night, we didn't have electricity, and there was no internet. Did I mention Franco wanted me to make him 4 websites in a week? We had to make a deal with a local bar to get their personal home wifi password - so I could walk into town everyday to get websites - and hope they felt like being open.

Favignana II

After Cala Rosa, we had our first real experience with the Sicilian bus system... which in Favigana is next to non-existent. So we walked. Along we way we encountered a meter long black snake on the side of the road... so we made sure not to step in any bushes and tall grass without looking first. Our host laughed at us - since what looked like a viper to us is completely harmless.

However, if we hadn't walked we would have missed out on this beach. We don't know the name, but it was pretty.

Of course we were all busy applying and re-applying sunscreen so that we wouldn't toast.

Favignana I

One day our B+B host recommended we go to the island of Favignana off of Trapani. We took a ferry, and spent the day beach hopping. From the harbor... we spent an hour trying to figure out the bus station - it's tradition in Sicily to make the "bus huts"... but then provide no other information such as schedule or the word bus. After some confusion, the first beach we went to, known as Cala Monaci only had a small strip of sand - not sufficient for sun-bathing, so we moved on.

We couldn't decide on the best beach to stay on so we just wandered around. The strong sun and lots of rocks makes the perfect climate for lizards, so that kept Renee distracted.

We stopped for a while at a "beach" called Cala Rossa. This part of the island used to be a quarry, where they removed stone from the ground to build all the houses.

We did some cave-exploring and enjoyed the shade.

Here we are stepping deeper into the caves that were made when they still excavated the stone. It had an eerie feel to walk into these giant man-made caverns. From the cliff that overhangs the ocean, these caverns are dug inwards... so that you can only see them if you are on the ocean, or right on top of them. We couldn't tell how far these caverns went, so we walked as far as the sun light spilling in would allow us.

Trapani, Sicily

We did a few more things in Holland, though I have to catch up on the blog - so fast forward o Sicily! After Holland Renee and I took a RyanAir to Trapani, Sicily.... now this place is more like a vacation. The weather was perfect beach weather. Sunny and warm.

We booked a night at a Hostel, however the owner had a free room at his B+B, so we stayed there instead! He was a great help with getting us around, and telling us what there was to do. One of the nights we went down to the Trapani Historic district.

From there we could see statues and old buildings. We also took a walk down to the harbor to look back over the city. The Mediterranean water is perfectly clear - you can see all the fish moving along the bottom.

From there we watched the sun-set over the Mediterranean sea. We also made sure to have pizza + gelato.

Queen's Day

Queen's day (Koninginnedag in Dutch) is a day of madness in Amsterdam. It was also a great idea of Marianne's (sense a pattern yet!) - Takes place on the 30th of April... yes, yes, I'm behind in the blog),  to celebrate the previous Queen's Birthday. The most unique part of Queen's Day is that anyone has the right to sell their property on the street. This turns Amsterdam and many other Dutch cities into 1 giant flea market.

Other celebrations include partying, partying, and more partying. Almost 1 million people come to A'dam on Queens day (Pop. of Holland is 6 million) - Ever street, every park, and every canal is packed.

Tradition is to wear Orange... so the streets look like a river of orange. Here I am checking the time using the clocks I bought in the street!

Sailing and Houseboats

Marianne had another great idea. Sailing is fun. So we took her small sail boat out onto the lake she lives on. When we left harbor, it was calm and beautiful. 4 hours later we were sailing into the wind, going against white caps and an on-coming storm. It was fun. I haven't been that scared in a very long time. Dry land became my #1 favorite thing after our sail. (Pictured is us leaving, having no idea what we're in for)

That night we stayed on Marianne's houseboat. She lives relatively close to Amsterdam, close enough that day trips are easy - though far enough away that you feel you're away from the hussle and tourists.

Here's the view of the harbor.