We were up, not necessarily bright but early, at 4 am in order to be at Manchester airport for a 5.30 check-in. The heavy rain that had started the previous afternoon had almost stopped as we loaded our luggage into the car. At the airport we headed to the check in desk and found that a self check-in and baggage weighing service was in operation. This caused a few people to have problems scanning their luggage onto the conveyor belt, the label had to be facing in just the right direction for the camera.

Successfully checked in and scanned, we headed to the security check with thoughts of breakfast once we had cleared security. I was a little surprised that my bag was sidelined into the queue for manual checking. It was a long queue with several people that hadn’t packed their hand luggage appropriately. This gave me plenty of time to wonder which of the few items in my bag could have raised an alert. When it was my turn I was informed that my bag hadn’t scanned and it was returned to the conveyor belt and I was told that if it didn’t go through I was to go straight to the front of the queue. Thankfully my bag went through the scanner with no further problems.

We had our long awaited breakfast before passing through to the boarding gate. Whilst we waited to board the plane a lady got chatting to us about all manner of interesting things although it was a bit much for me, so early in the morning. Once everyone boarded the plane the captain stepped out of the cockpit to address the passengers. He told us that the co-pilot had phoned in sick and a replacement was on his way but he was contending with the Manchester rush hour traffic. The plane left 30 minutes later than planned and as we left UK airspace the inclement weather faded into the distance. At one point we flew over Lake Geneva and the Alps which were amazing seen from so far above.

On arrival at Catania airport we stepped off the plane into brilliant sunshine and passed through immigration and collected our baggage without any hiccups. Our private transfer was waiting for us, and as we drove to Taormina, our driver pointed out various towns and landscape features along the way. The view of Etna was looking lively with smoke venting from its summit. On arrival at the hotel we were shown to our room which had a French balcony on one wall and a full length window on another wall allowing us views of both Etna and the sea. We left our cases unpacked and headed into town for a late lunch. I ordered bruschetta which turned out to be a lot larger than I was expecting.

After lunch we went for a walk along the main street, Corso Umberto I, walking further than we intended ending up at the Porta Messina gateway, our hotel being situated next to the Porta Catania gateway about a mile away. On the way we stopped in Piazza IX Aprile to see the views over the Naxos bay. Later we sat on the Caffe Wunderbar terrace with a glass of wine, enjoying the view before returning to the room to unpack.

As we were getting ready to dine in the hotel restaurant we enjoyed the view of Etna whilst the sun set behind it and the moon rose above. During this time there was a call at our door (there was a small doorbell outside which we had not noticed). On opening the door the gentleman announced, “Room service”, and presented a plate of small biscuits.

We enjoyed our meal and finished our wine outside in the warm evening air enjoying the view of the bay below the hotel terrace.