Day 29 - Tuesday 7th May

Today will be our last full day in Sicily on this Secret Italia Tour. It was another bright sunny day - currently 13C with a forecast maximum of 18C. We've certainly been lucky with the weather.

When we went down to breakfast it was cool but we decided to sit in the open air on the terrace anyway. There was some cloud covering the peak of Mount Aetna but it was lifting. After about 15 minutes, the cloud was no longer hiding the peak.

The departure time for this morning's outing was 9am in the hotel foyer. I wasn't feeling too well and so I was wondering whether I should go. Apparently would be going to a Greek theatre and a pizza cooking lesson - neither of which sounded exciting. How wrong can you get. It was well worth going.

As it turns out, the Greek theatre was a semi-circular arena built by the ancient Greeks in the side of the hill. Luca took us near the northern gate where we met a local guide who would take us through the site.

Originally the arena would have looked out to sea with a view of Mount Aetna towards the right. When the ancient Romans came along centuries later, they built a wall that partially blocked the view. However it was still possible to see the sea, the town and Mount Aetna though large arches.

In the distance, there were other stone buildings on the top of nearby mountains which were even higher than where we were.

We took lots of photos of the arena and even more photos of Mount Aetna from every vantage point. The peak of Mount Aetna was still visible but by the time we'd finished the tour of the arena at about 10:15am, clouds had moved back in to hide the peak.

At the top of the stadium, our guide invited us to sit down on the timber benches. She talked about how cleverly the arena had been designed to give perfect acoustics and then invited Luca to sing for us to prove it.

The view improved as we climbed through the arena. When we got to the top, we also had a view of the coast from the other side - looking north instead of south. It was a memorable experience.

Our timing was good because, we were early enough to beat the crowds because, as we were leaving, large tour groups were arriving to see the ruins. The guide's commentary finished soon after 10:30am in one of the plazas in the town's main street.

This meant we now had some free time before meeting Luca again at the centre gate at 10:55am. It gave me time to take photos of some nearby ancient stone buildings and a small ancient arena behind the church.

Luca then led us towards the northern gate and up several flights of stairs to a pizza restaurant high on the hill. There we sat down while a chef explained the best way to cook pizzas. He spoke in Italian and Luca translated for us.

His method takes three or four days from beginning to end. He invited people in our group to assist with the preparation. It was a genuine hands-on experience but Luca pointed out that none of the pizzas we prepared would be cooked for hygiene reasons.

Next it was time for lunch in the pizza restaurant. Although we were the only people there, the restaurant had capacity for a hundred or more people. The waiters kept bringing more pizzas and more carafes of wine.

It was after 1pm when we left the restaurant and headed back towards the hotel. On the way, the girls went to the Obag shop.

John and Lyn were with us when we got to the hotel garden. We got chatting to the gardener and he was keen to show us through the garden. John and Lyn were particularly keen whereas Suzy and I stumbled across the gold fish pond where we realised there were half a dozen small turtles sharing the pond.

When the gardener came over with Lyn and John, the turtles swam towards him apparently expecting to be fed. Even one turtle which had been sunning himself on a rock dived into the water and swam over.

It was a good opportunity to have an afternoon nap. We also got the hotel to print out our boarding passes for our flight to Rome tomorrow morning.

At about 7pm, we met as a group in the hotel restaurant to exchange contact details such as email addresses. We'd made friends with the group during the tour.

Luca gave a short speech on the terrace saying what a cohesive group we'd been. Several people spoke up to say how successful the trip had been and what a great job Luca had done as the tour director.

Then at about 7:15pm, we set off to walk to the restaurant (Granduca) for our farewell dinner. This restaurant is in the main street near the northern gate. It's an elegant restaurant with a view out to sea. Our group sat at two circular tables at the end of the room.

The theme of the restaurant is about Orlando - a Sicilian tradition about a mythical knight in armour. Each table had an Orlando puppet in the middle of the table. There were other Orlando figures of varios sizes throughout the restaurant.

It was another excellent meal. Also it was a special occasion because it was the wedding anniversary for Brian and Margie. Although Brian had been in bed sick all day, he managed to make it to the restaurant for dinner. Luca had organised a cake topped with strawberries to mark the occasion.

Back at the hotel, it was time to say goodbye to the others in our group. We were in bed by about 10:15pm.