We stayed for 4 nights with Nikki and Tyson in their gorgeous flat overlooking the Med. Their village of Aci Trezza sat on the eastern slope of Mt. Etna on a volcanic hillside running down to the sea. Their balcony had a panoramic view of several old lava piles sticking up out of the water.
Each morning we went down to the town center and ate at a little café that served the most heavenly breakfast combination we had ever tasted: brioche and granita. Granitas were slightly slushy and coarse frozen smoothies much like gelato. Some of the typical flavors were almond and pistachio. Tyler went for the trifecta and had a cappuccino as well.
Speaking of pistachios, they were brought over to Sicily by Moorish invaders centuries ago and became a staple of the island. We had pistachios on pizza, as a pasta sauce, in pastries, in honey, as gelato...it was amazing how versatile they were and the earthy and savory flavor that added.
Anyways, Nikki and Tyson had a new English Bulldog puppy named Zara that was mischevious, but adorable at the same time. Claire took quite a liking to her, but Zara was bigger and heavier than Claire so she was a little wary of her as well.
On our last day, we had breakfast in the café and then walked to the harbor and asked if any of the older gentlemen killing time would give us a boat tour around the islands. We found one such willing boat captain who for the price of 20 euros took us around for a 30 minute tour weaving in and out of the islands. He even let the kids take turns steering the boat (which was a big hit)!
Just one village over was a similarly small village by the name of Aci Castello. It had an ancient Norman fortress tower build upon an ancient lava flow. Apparently, it was built upon an island originally, but a huge eruption and lava flow from Mt Etna flowed 25 km all the way to the sea and bridged the gap from the mainland to the island castle.
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