An early flight allowed for hitting the sightseeing straight away, with an afternoon visit to the spectacular Graeco-Roman theatre in Taormina. With its stunning location overlooking the sea this was a wonderful first stop on our tour, and the old town of Taormina provided our first taste of Sicilian specialities such as cannoli and granita before we enjoyed a pizza-making workshop: a fun and tasty way to round off the day!
Classics was once again the central theme on Day 2, with a visit to the Valle dei Templi at Agrigento. Ancient Greek Akragas, the city was founded in the early 6th Century BC but reached its height in the 5th Century under the ruler Theron, who carried out a massive building project including a huge temple of Olympian Zeus that was one of the biggest temples in the Greek world. Geographers weren’t left out, though: they could enjoy some fine examples of weathering on the stones of the temples!
Wednesday and Thursday were devoted more to Geographical matters, seeing the group summiting two volcanoes in two days. Etna welcomed us with deep snow sparkling under bright blue skies and provided a rare opportunity not only to view some of the mountain’s many lateral craters, but also to enjoy a snowball fight at 3000m. The slopes of Etna are used for olive groves and many other agricultural crops, and the production of honey is a local industry, which we were all able to sample.
On Thursday, an exciting high-speed hydrofoil ride took us to Vulcano, home of the god Vulcan and his underground forges. Here we climbed to the crater of the island’s eponymous volcano and were treated to a close-up view (and smell!) of its sulphurous fumaroles. To see the earth breathing, through the emission of water vapour and gases from the crater, really did take Geography out of the classroom and into the real world.
This was a really wonderful cross-curricular trip, with spectacular scenery, inspiring ruins, and fabulous food. The students threw themselves into all the activities with gusto, tried new things, scaled new heights, and made new friends wherever they went.
Brave tutte!
To see more fabulous photographs from the trip visit Our Red Adventures Instagram page here.