What is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?

Sicily! Rob and I just returned from a 10 day journey throughout the island of Sicilia. We started our tour in Palermo and went in a counterclockwise direction around the island until we reached Catania. The weather was warm and the wildflowers were in full bloom. We visited many cities and sites including: Palermo, Monreale, Segesta, Erice, Motya, Selinunte, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina, Morgantina, Gela, Noto, Pantalica, Syracuse and Catania. We also took advantage of the local cuisine by eating plenty of pasta, pizza, gelato (almost every day), prosciutto sandwiches, seafood, and cannoli. Here are a few pictures we took along the way.

The Cathedral of Palermo was built in 1185 and is characterized by the presence of different styles, due to a long history of additions, alterations and restorations, the last of which occurred in the 18th century.

A view of the interior of Cappella Palatina. As you can see, this church is known for its beautiful mosaics.

A view of the mountains from the harbor in Palermo.

Katie posing for a photo from the rooftop bar at our hotel. Behind you can see the Pretoria fountain which known for its nude statues. AKA: Fountain of Shame.

Rob took this beautiful photo of the temple of Segesta overlooking the valley.

These salt windmills could be seen as we boarded a small boat for the island of Motya near the town of Marsala.

This is all that remains of the Punic Ship. This ship was recovered in an underwater excavation and had to go through a long process taking it from saltwater to freshwater to no water at all! Notice the building it is housed in. This building in Marsala was one of the first places to produce Marsala wine.

We visited an ancient rock quarry where I posed to show just how big these columns would have been. It's likely that this particular column had a defect so it was never used in a temple.

This is a view from the rooftop of our hotel in Selinunte. The ocean was very pretty, but still too cold to swim in.

Rob posing on a column capital to show just how HUGE these temples really were.

Natalie and I do a little dance to celebrate the end of our marathon day at Selinunte.

One of the many temples at Agrigento.

Another temple at Agrigento, this time taken at night from our hotel room window.

Mount Etna! The largest active volcano in Europe.

The mosaics at Piazza Armerina.

More mosaics at Piazza Armerina.

The piazza at Syracuse. Such a gorgeous city!

Self-portrait in front of the church in Syracuse.

Rob presenting on the Siege of Syracuse. It was his best yet in my opinion!!

The church at Syracuse by night.

The piazza in Catania.

This is in the middle of the piazza in Catania. The elephant is carved from the black lava of Mount Etna.

The Bellini Theater in Catania.

The last meal in Sicily. As you can see from all of our smiles, it was one of the best!

Kriti

In February, Rob and I took a week long trip to Crete with our fearless leader Bob Bridges and the rest of the regular members. Rob and I both agree that we had the most amazing time on the island. The weather was gorgeous, in the mid to high 70s most of the time, and the food was fantastic. We took an overnight ferry from Piraeus into Hania where our trip began. While in Hania we visited two cemeteries with burials of those who fought in the Battle of Crete in 1941.
This is the Suda Bay cemetery where many British soldiers are buried. Many of them are left unidentified, but each has a memorial. Their resting place was very beautiful and peaceful.

The people of Crete also maintain the cemetery of those who invaded them. This shot is of the German war cemetery near the Maleme airfield where many of them died as the parachuted from their planes. More than 4000 men are buried there.

Two of my favorite things about Crete are the Venetian influences, and the natural beauty. We had lunch on the harbor in Hania with the mountains in the background.
The next major city on our way across the island was Rethymno. Unfortunately we only had an afternoon here, but we made the most of of by grabbing a quick sandwich and walking around the city on our lunch break. Here are shots of the old harbor, the new harbor, a cute street, and a four-wheeler delivering gelato!
We continued our trek on the island by heading to Iraklio where there are many museums holding the most famous antiquities of ancient Crete and we also spent a few hours at the Minoan site of Knossos. This site is somewhat controversial because excavators decided at the time of excavation to reconstruct what they believed the site would have looked like. Therefore, many of the walls have been repainted and walls reconstructed. I really enjoyed Knossos because of this! Here are a few photos from Knossos followed by a picture of the Phaistos disk we saw at the museum in Iraklio. This disk still has not been deciphered.
One of most memorable sites of the year came next at Azoria. This site is located in the mountains of Crete. We got to ride in the back of pick-up trucks to get there because our bus was not able to maneuver the rough road. Needless to say, it was a hysterical ride up as we all tried not to fall out of the trucks!! Here are some final photos of us in the truck and at the site.