Sicily

Last week I was away in Sicily. Sadly we took the weather with us, however we had a great time. Here are some photos for you to enjoy.

Below are the wall paintings in the ballroom of the hotel and it also had a 20 foot gorgeous chandalier. Unfortunately all the lights were switched off. We just sneaked in to take some pictures hence the pictures are not bright enough.

 The churches are all beautifully decorated

 Inspite of the weather the scenary was stunning!

 A local food and veg market.

 The Greek temples were imposing and beautiful.

 Some of the mountains had still snow on them.

 Toarmina was a beautiful place and this is the Greek theatre. It was absolutely stunning. If you ever go there don't miss it.

 There were lots of cactuses and one of them was in full bloom.

 We had planned to go up Mt Etna. We drove half way up but were defeated by the weather.  As you can see there was a lot of snow on the mountain and the fog was coming down thick and fast so we decided to return back and not risk going up further. It was rather disappointing as I wanted to see the crater but I guess this time of the year was not the right time to visit it anyway.

 Packed snow on the roadside. Look at the bluish glow. That is the first time I have seen that .

 There were evidences of the lava flow everywhere. It looked like such a desolate place. Yet there are villages on the foot hills of the mountain and on the southern slopes as the ground is so fertile. I don't know how people live there with the constant threat of the mountain errupting. The most recent erruption was in 2009

 On our way back we saw some beautiful sunset.

 This was on the way up to Erice which is a small medivel town on top of a mountain. The view down below from half way up.

 We did not spend much  time here as it was foggy cold and started sleeting heavily. Walking down to our car was a nightmare as it became like an ice rink when it started sleeting and snowing. On a warm summer's day it must be a delightful place to walk around and explore the narrow streets.

 Someone's  delightful courtyard from outside. I could have taken a shot of the inner garden but did not want to intrude