Lake Bled, Slovenia

The bus trip from Vienna to Lake Bled was scenic as it went over a mountain pass in the Alps. The road had plenty of very sharp hairpin curves. After a short stop at our hotel we took a tour of the area which included a boat ride to Bled Island pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, built in its current form near the end of the 17th century. There is a Baroque stairway dating from 1655 with 99 stone steps leading up to the building. The church is frequently visited and weddings are held there regularly. Traditionally it is considered good luck for the groom to carry his bride up the steps on the day of their wedding before ringing the bell and making a wish inside the church.

 Our second stop was Bled Castle. The castle was first mentioned in a 22 May 1011 deed of donation issued by Emperor Henry II in favor of the Bishops of Brixen. It passed to the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1278. It was a steep climb up to the castle. We saw the end of one wedding and the arrival of the bride for a second wedding.

One interesting thing about this area is the TV stations I can get at our hotel. Since we are at the corner of several countries there are stations in German from Austria, Italian from Italy, Croatian from Croatia,  Hungarian from Hungry, and of course Slovene form Slovenia. Not to be left out there are channels with Russian from Russia, French from France, the BBC from the UK in English and for Americans there is CNN.  I am watching the world cup in Slovene. Our Slovenian guide was pleased that Germany is out. - Nancy

Bled Castle on the left

Bled Lake

Bled Castle

View form Bled Castle

View from Bled Castle

Plan A - Part 2 Tour in Europe

My plan after finishing work has been to stay out of the USA for 330 days of the 365 days since I left for Italy in August 2017. This means I will not need to pay tax on my salary from Italy. So Plan A - Part 1 was to go on a Rick Steves tour of Sicily June 19 to 29. Plan A - Part 2 started today when I arrived in Vienna, Austria to go on a Trafalgar Tour in mostly Eastern Europe June 20 to July 15. I have travel insurance so can bail and switch plans if needed. Plan A - Part 3 is to return to Rome on July 15 and fly to Washington, DC on July 18 to meet Ron and then take our two youngest grand children on our last grand children trip to Costa Rica July 20 to July 28. The final part of Plan A is to fly back to Oregon with Ron on August 1. We are optimistic that we Plan A will work out.

St. Stephens Cathedral

After arriving in Vienna we took a bus and then walking tour. We had a delicious welcome dinner. I started to meet some of my fellow travelers. This is a much larger tour with 45 people. One of the fun things we saw was a display in a bakery about the world cup. All of the display is edible.

World Cup bakery cakes

Sunset over city hall was beautiful. - Nancy

Sunset over city hall

Last Full Day in Sicily

Today our tour group went to the town of Catania. Our first stop was the Museo Storico dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943 (Historic Museum of the Landing in Sicily 1943). It was a somber experience. One stop was a stimulated bomb raid and being ushered into a bomb shelter. Upon exiting there were pictures of the actual destruction in Catania during World War II. The Allied forces landed on the southern coast of Sicily on July 10, 1943. The invasion of Sicily is considered the beginning Italy's liberation from fascism. Over 150,000 Allied soldiers took part in Operation Husky, one of the largest coastal operation during World War II. The battle for Sicily, which according to Allied generals was to last between 5-15 days, took over a month and cost the lives of thousands of soldiers: the British and American troops lost over 2,500 soldiers each, while over 4,000 Italian and over 4,500 German soldiers were killed in action. There was one picture of Hitler and Mussolini together.

What was most sobering about the experience was the parallels between what happened in Germany and Italy prior to World War II and current politics in the US and the World. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote an editorial that was published in the New York Times on April 6, 2018 titled, "Will We Stop Trump Before It’s Too Late?" In it she states, "Fascism poses a more serious threat now than any time since the end of World War II." I encourage you to read this editorial.

Fish market

Cathedral

In the afternoon we had a walking tour of the town which included a visit to the local fish market, seeing the cathedral, and some Roman ruins. 

Roman Ruins

Today Mt. Etna was sending puffs of steam out of the crater at the top. That is what you see in the picture below. The white is not clouds.  -Nancy

Day exploring Taormina and area

View of Mt. Etna from my hotel room this morning.

Today we had a walking tour in the morning which ended at a Greek theater. After lunch some others on the tour and I took a taxi to the village of Castelmona which is higher up the hillside from Taormina. Later we took an boat ride to see the area from a different perspective. Here are some views from the day.  -Nancy

View from hotel terrace.

Bougainvillea intertwined with a cypress tree.

One of many beautiful balconies.

View from Castelmona

View of Greek Theatre from Castelmola.

Church hewn into the mountain side.

One of the caves on our boat ride.

Arrival in Taomina

We arrived for a two night stay in Taomina. We wound our way up a road with many switch backs. Large buses are not allowed in the old section of town so we transferred to smaller vans. After settling into my room and dong my laundry I headed out to purchase some dinner. Cars were in the main square ready to take a bride and groom.

One of Italy's most historic holiday resorts, Taormina is a picturesque small town perched on a slope high above the Ionian Sea on the eastern coast of Sicily. A popular and fashionable destination for well over a century, Taormina's hotels and restaurants are very experienced at welcoming foreign tourists. Tomorrow our tour group will explore the town some more.  -Nancy

Tour and lunch at a winery

We had a lovely tour and lunch at the Benanti Winery which is on the lower slopes of Mt. Etna. It is owned by a family and now two brothers run it. I learned more about wine and grape harvest today than I ever have. It was interesting. Some of the vines are over 100 years old.- Nancy

Beautiful view of the vineyards and estate.

Mt. Etna

This morning we went to Mt. Etna. It is an active volcano that is 10,922 ft. It is on the East side of  Sicily and looms over the Mediterranean Sea. In the winter is is covered with snow and there is a ski resort on it. We hiked around one of the lower craters. The summit peaked out of the clouds for a brief second. Mt. Etna is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and is in an almost constant state of activity. The most recent larger eruption was on March 16, 2017. In the afternoon we had a lecture by a volcanologist who works for the agency that monitors Mt. Etna. There is monitoring 24 hours each day. - Nancy

Final sights in Ortiga

Picture of people in the shelter

I visited a World War II bomb shelter. It had 4 tunnels that led into the center of it. It could hold 800 people.

I walked to the Temple of Apollo. It is dated to the beginning of the 6th century b.C. and is therefore the most ancient Doric temple in Sicily. The ruins are in the middle of a city square.  - Nancy

One of the entrance tunnels

Temple of Apollo

Fountain in Ortiga

Sicilian Puppet Show

We went to a Sicilian Puppet Show. The puppets were quite large. The show was very funny. It was from a medieval tale. Supposedly it was for children but it was quite unexpected when the knight beheaded a witch. There was a dragon, and a strong Italian grandma who set things straight. - Nancy

Scenes from a Walking Tour of Ortiga

The tour included the history of the and stops at some interesting shops. - Nancy

Typical cobblestone street

Lovely sidewalk cafe

Painting from a shop we visited.

Cathedral of Syracuse

Today we woke up to rain. It was raining heavily when we were to start our walking tour so we meet in a chapel that is next door to our hotel and had an indoor talk from our local guide before we headed out on our tour. The first stop was the Cathedral. It is an unusual structure because it is built within the great Greek Temple of Athena was built in the 5th century BC. The temple was a Doric edifice with six columns on the short sides and 14 on the long sides. The spaces between the columns were filled in and the church was built within the structure of the Greek temple. - Nancy

Dome of a side chapel

Large columns were from the Greek temple.

Two nights in Ortigia

We are staying two nights in the town of  Ortiga. It is actually a small island which is the historical center of the city of Syracuse, Sicily. We took a short walk and go on a longer tour tomorrow. Ortiga was a Greek city until the Romans captured it. It was heavily bombed in World War II. The allied forces worked their way north after landing in Ortiga.

Our tour group seems to be quite compatible. Our guide is excellent and the bus we travel on is very comfortable. The pace of this Rick Steves tour is nice. It has some "down time". Since we are in Italy, food and our group dinners are highlights of the tour.  - Nancy