The island of Sicily is incredible in every way. It's rich in culture, history, architecture and natural beauty and I know you will fall in love with it instantly!

Getting There: I stopped into Sicily on a cruise, but you do have the option to fly into several different airports including Palermo (PMO), Catania (CTA) or Trapani (TPS) dependong on your destination. If you are heading to Taormina, you would fly into the Catania airport.

Rest Your Body: See Hotels.com

I stopped into Sicily for a day trip on a cruise on two separate occasions, so did not need accommodations. However, I will certainly go back and will use Hotels.com to book my hotel in Taormina.

Culinary Delights:

If you enjoy drinking or learning about wine, then Terrazze dell' Etna is a MUST SEE! Mt. Etna is the highest volcano in all of Europe, and Terrazza dell'Etna is perched right on the side of the volcano. The estate stretches from 650 meters to 950 meters in the Natural Park of Enta and as a result of the geography and location on an active volcano, the mineral terroir creates complex and delicious wines.

The vineyard offers tastings of their wine as well as a complete tour, including a tour of the cellar where the techniques used to make the wine are detailed. You also get a tour of the vineyard itself, where you walk among the volcano's slopes (it is not steep and very safe). After the tour, our tour company set up a lunch for us at the vineyard, which we LOVED. I would HIGHLY recommend a visit to this winery.

Www.terrazzedelletna.it

Tour@terrazzadelletna.it

Adventure:

Etna Finder put on a fantastic tour for us. We were picked up at 8:30am and had to return to the ship by 4:30pm. It was quick but we toured and hiked Mt. Etna, went to a Mt. Etna vineyard including lunch, and finally visited Taormina.

Mt. Etna was so impressive! Although I am not a big outdoorsman and hiking is not my forte, I thoroughly enjoyed the short hikes to gorgeous vistas of the recent lava flows that covered a great deal of the forest. We learned quite a bit about the active volcano, got some exercise, got lots of gorgeous photos and had a great time with Lorenzo (who was incredibly knowledgable, not to mention very handsome).

The vineyard Terrazze dell' Etna visit was incredible. Fabio gave us a tour of the property and then we had an incredible lunch of local salami, antipasta with olives and pickles vegetables, cheese, bread and olive oil. Then we had a fresh pasta entree of tomato sauce and sautéed vegetables. Wines were priced between 10€ and 15€ per bottle and the olive oil was for sale as well.

Following the vineyard tour, we drove about 30 minutes to the charming town of Taormina overlooking the Mediterranean. This town was out of this world gorgeous and unlike anything I've ever seen. It had the most beautiful architecture, bright flowers everywhere and extraordinarily charming. I wish we had more time to explore but this is certainly a place I will return to visit in the future!

Etna Finder will put together custom tours while staying within your budget. Our 8 hour tour cost 99 Euro per person (for a group of 4), which is very affordable compared to other local companies.

Guglielmo Fiorista +39 339 6007819

ETNAFINDER EXCURSIONS & TOURS

www.etnafinder.com

Hidden Gems and Not to Be Missed: Etna Finder, Mt. Etna, Terrazza dell'Etna, Taormina

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