We Want to See the Whole World

We slept in until 9:45 and went straight to the buffet for breakfast since it closes at 10:30. After a quick workout we headed out of the terminal towards the barakka lift (gardens elevator). The ticket to go up is 1euro each and the stairs were closed. First elevator we took the entire trip so far! Anyone who said there’s nothing to see here is heavily mistaken. 10/10 stars for this port. I was not too sure what to expect with this port. I knew that we could go to Mdina but other than that I’d only really heard of the barraka gardens We exited the gardens and stepped into magic. Malta is unlike anything I’d ever seen before. One thing about everywhere we went is that you don't see a typical grocery store like we have in the states...everything is an open air market style...fruits and veggies lining the streets and very rarely do you see packaged or processed goods. Everywhere you look is a new street with new colors, sounds, and sites. 

After spending an hour in Castelmola our group met back up and began the journey half way down the mountain to the town of Taormina. Taormina dates back to years BC! Wikipedia has quite the history read on it...take some time and go check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taormina It was frequently windy and misted on us quite a bit but we had no cares! I ate my way through Sicily. I had started out the day with my hair down and wearing a cute hat but the heat and rain killed that vibe. I consoled myself with gelato. We spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of Taormina, taking in the sights, the sounds, the beautiful colors. I forgot to mention that our time in Castelmola & Taormina was all free time. We didn’t have to stay together as a group. We met back up at the designated time and all chatted about the day and our lives on the drive back to port. It truly was a great day and we would highly recommend Sicily4You. https://www.sicily4you.

This morning we were rudely awakened by drilling in the crew stairway outside our cabin at 8am. We tried to fight it but the drilling went on for an hour so eventually we got up. We weren’t due into port until 11am. I grabbed my provider Royal cup for the machines and we headed up to WJ for breakfast. sadly the only machines on the ship do not carry any Diet Coke or Coke Zero and every time I tried to get Powerade zero it was out. The machines were useless to me.  After eating we made it to the gym for a quick workout. We were sailing through the strait so got distracted by the beauty. One of the ladies on our roll call arranged an excursion through Sicily4You to Castelmola & Taormina. Our decided meeting time was 11:30am just outside the terminal and cost would be 50euro each. I was a bit nervous at first as this would be our first ever non ship booked excursion but I felt confident based on so many reviews I’ve read from people who have suggested going ou