Tindari

From our home base in the beach town of Milazzo, we load up and drive up a winding mountainside road and arrive at the Cathedral of the Black Madonna which is situated on the highest point overlooking Milazzo and neighboring communities.

We park our vehicles and walk the last half mile to the cathedral built in 1957 in the classical style. It's hot and we sweat alot!

Upon entering the church, we are immediately bathed in comforting and elegant colors of soft pink, blues, greens, and golds. The floor is defined in geometric shapes and colors of stones that help to give one a sense of place in a very large architectural setting. We sit for awhile.

The locals are still absent as we wander about on the top of the mountain and thru the Roman amphitheater, ruins and public baths. Detailed mosaics decorate the bath house floors and a partial reconstruction has been done on the arched entrance to the baths. The early evening sunlight casts beautiful colors and shadows on the soft terra cotta colored stones. Palms and olive trees surrround the area.

As we decend the mountain top on foot, the local visitors are ascending the hillside. The streets are coming alive with visitors to the cathedral, and the church bells ring out to signal the start of mass at 7:00 pm.

Down the hill we go and we wrap up the day with cards and pizza at La Casetta B & B. They have been very kind to us and we bid farewell to them the next morning.

Siracusa and our last day at Orange Park

Sunday was our last day at Orange Park, and our first "free day". Pretty much everyone was still feeling the effects of our long climb up Mt. Etna two days ago & our super hot field day yesterday (we were in over 100 degree heat for almost two hours, describing a south facing wall of basalt and limestone). Most of the group stayed at Orange Park, either working on homework or other projects, or getting some sun by the pool. But a few of us took an optional field trip to Siracusa (Syracuse) to see more of Sicily.




After about an hour's drive, we arrived at Siracusa and parked on Ortygia Island. Then we explored the narrow streets and walked along the water.


One of the places we saw was the Plaza Duomo, which was amazing.

Because mass was in session we only got to peek into the church with the Madonna della Lacrime, (The Madonna of Tears) briefly.
Then it was off to find some ruins! Along the way we passed some ruins right in the middle of the city. They were from about 600 B.C.!

Leah and Valerie also noticed a "Graniteria" and had to get granitas because they are the most refreshing things ever. A few more minutes of walking and we finally came to the main ruins. As we walked to the ticket office, off to our left was a sacrificial altar where, according to our brochure, the Romans would hold mass animal sacrifices of up to 450 bulls slaughtered at once... gross. At the ticket office we had a letter from the university of Catania to allow us free entry into the ruins but because we weren't part of the European Union, we had to pay full price. To quote the ticket agent, "The problem is, you are Americans". Nice.

The greek Amphitheater was awesome, carved out of the limestone bedrock and pretty much fully intact. The Ear of Dionysus was really cool. A Sicilian guide brought a group into the "ear" and sang for a few minutes. It was spectacular! The "ear" was created by a quarry that was dug beneath an aquaduct.

Our tour of the ruins of Siracusa concluded with an amazing Roman arena. You could see the small pit in the middle where they put the wild animals for gladiators to fight or fill with water for mock naval battles. SO cool. Next on our list of sights to see was the church of the crying Madonna. It is a modern church dedicated to a statue that "cried" for a few days in the 1950. Apparently they tested the tears and found that their composition is similar to human tears...

After that we started wandering back. The town seemed pretty sleepy all day - no traffc and no crowds whatsoever. We barely saw anyone when we were walking back and no one else was at the restaurant we ate at (delicious salads & pasta) but that was mostly because it was siesta time for Sicilians and barely anyone does anything from about 12 to 3. Overall it was a very pleasant, charming town with some awesome ruins.

The rest of the free day was spent working on reports and prepping for our departure tomorrow. Dinner was delicious - roasted skewers of chicken, fruit, and vegetables with couscous on the side, but the real highlight was a nectarine and blackberry cobbler & six different flavors of ice cream :)

When lunch lasts longer than fieldwork

Today was a hot day goodness! BUT this allowed us to get acquainted with Sicilian work style. We met Professore Fabio Lentini from the University of Catania on our way to a quarry near the Loddiero valley, passing by Lentini lake, which sits on top of the sequence that we were about to study. All these units were present before Mt. Etna formed. Our first stop was a gorgeous carbonate outcrop, rich in fossils, burrows and interesting stratigraphic features such cross-beds and troughs. While fascinating, we really felt the heat and while Prof. Lentini gave us a background on the rocks, we discretely moved towards the shade. We finally arrived at the quarry, but parked the vans at “The Park” bed and breakfast: a charming locality with goats and our prize: more shade! But that didn’t last long, we headed into the blazing sun to go explore some amazing corals, that were likely rapidly buried, as they were lithified essentially intact! We then went into the quarry (and blazing sun!) to measure and describe the stratigraphy: a curious alternation of carbonate rocks and pillow (submarine) and subaerial lavas, clearly showing a transition from marine sediments to terrestrial sediments. Cool! However, not even 2hrs into to work, and finishing our descriptions, we are all fried. We returned to the shade of “The Park” very tired. Luckily, the owner switch on an outdoor shower! Oh the joy!! How refreshing it was; who knew cold showers could feel so good! After chatting a little about what we saw, the owner of “The Park” came and announced that Prof. Lentini would be late for lunch, so we decided to wait for 30 mins, and some of us went black-berry picking for an upcoming pie!! Lentini was, surprise surprise, 45 mins late, but the lunch was extraordinary, like most of Sicilian culinary experiences. We spent more time at having lunch than at the quarry hehe. Following this, we drove to a chert (microcrystalline quartz) quarry in Udica, which displays unique stratigraphy of (beautiful) deep water sediments. We knew it was deep water from the total absence of carbonates, which are limited in the depositional depth by the “carbonate compensation depth” a oceanographic “boundary”, below which all carbonates redissolve in the sea-water. The drive there was quite interesting, in that the roads were in a terrible state, clearly revealing that the rocks on which they were built on were easily deformed: evaporates and cherts. It was hard to say good-bye to a passionate Professore Lentini, but as an amazing Sicilian host, he said “I’m sorry about the weather. I can organize the eruption of Mt. Etna next time you come, but the weather….”. Ah Sicilians ☺ Everyone returned home exhausted, thrilled about the rocks observed, and looking forward to our day of rest tomorrow.

Etna

Victory!

The crater

Circumnavigating the volcano

Our leader

Into the vapors

Down the cinder slope

Today we climbed Etna. Now we are very tired.

Catania

Today, we spent the day in the city. After a rather crazed search for the parking garage (which involved going down one way street the wrong way for three blocks), we headed over to the Instituto (sp?) National Geophysica et Vulcanology (sp?) (INGV). We were treated to an excellent presentation on numerous aspects of Mt. Etna's systems, a tour the monitor room, and then another presentation on the 2002-2003 eruption, called the Perfect Eruption. I can't say I agree with the title, but the presentation was a great warm up for the next day's excursion to the top of Etna.

We were free to roam for a few hours afterwards. Sanjoy, Mimi and I headed out together. We didn't know where we were going, so we aimed for an area with some piazzas. We lucked out and stumbled upon a great open air market, full of fresh vegetables, fish mongers, and butchers. After strolling through the market, we found ourselves a very nice restaurant which served excellent local dishes. We lucked out big time. Stuffed and happy, we ambled out in the general direction of the University.

We all reconvened at the University. The next few hours were spent in a very warm auditorium, listening to Catania professores, UW grad students giving our own talks (which we were given 24 hours notice on), and Catania graduate students.

We were finished at the University around 6:30pm, and we headed out to the Piazza Duomo.

Side note: It has become abundantly clear why the Mediterranean region functions on it's daily cycle, with the siesta in the afternoon. It's so bloody hot and muggy from 1pm to ~5pm, it's very difficult to be productive. As my friend Carmine explained: "the sun goes to your head." Today was no exception, even while being indoors. The auditorium was stifling, and I sweated (I suspect we all did) for the entire duration. Upon leaving, and getting into the evening breeze, it is easy to understand why life picks back up in the evening. The Mediterranean evening is magical, and the Sicilian culture has certainly embraced this and made it a central part of their day.

This magic can come in the form of families gathering in the grape canopied patio, and sharing wine and stories until midnight, or it can come in the form of throngs of city dwellers flooding into the central piazza and thoroughfare. Tonight, we saw the throngs on Via Etanea and Piazza Duomo. Aside from the famous pygmy elephant statue, there were throngs of old and young. It seems to be a popular place for newlyweds to come and get their portraits done as well, as there were two couples getting their pictures taken while we were there.

Dinner was arranged for us at Trattoria Casalinga. We had tables waiting for us in the street. Again, we were immersed in the magic of the Mediterranean evening. The food was spectacular. The antipasti was uncooked shrimp, anchovies, and octopus drenched in olive oil, and lemon. Another antipasti was a plate of cheese, maybe pecorino, lightly cooked onion, all drenched in a light olive oil and salted. Heaven. The main dishes were all wonderful, in particular the Sicilian specialty Pasta Norma, served with a lovely pillow of cheese grated over the pasta.

Another full day.

Profiling in paradise… With guests for lunch

We started our day on the shores of Capo Campolada by dividing into three working groups under the beating sun. One team inspected, cataloged and measured tsunami boulders. Another group looked at the facies of the carbonate platform (the variations in rock-type). The last group measured the topographic profile of the platform- an awesome job- can you see our smiles in the photo? We all learned a lot, but were very excited to find a shady carob tree for lunch (tasty).




Unexpected guests joined us for lunch. Two cows jumped a small wall to come eat the carob beans (Saint John’s bread, Charlotte calls it). They weren’t the friendliest cows though, so we finished our lunch and moved to the next spot.

















The next spot (Faro Santo Croce) was not exactly cooler, and we were earlier than planned, Jody, our kind professor, gave us an hour to get to know the Mediterranean. It was windy, salty, and warm (the most foreign characteristic to us Pacific-Northwesters). While swimming in the amazingly clear waters, we got an up close and personal introduction with the limestone involved in the next assignment.




To end the day, we used our blooming profiling skills to measure the stratigraphy of Miocene limestone exposed by a marine terrace. However, we so long plastered against the cliff at the bottom that we had to do the top on fast forward.






Until next time:
Chore team 1- John Pe, Rachel, and Bre

Finally here!

Sicily! Here we are!!! Ah che bello!! BUT! It had to start Sicilian way: chaotic. It was back and forth to the airport from Misterbianco (our home base) to pick up incoming participants. Adding drivers to the rental contract was like pulling teeth from a rabies infected dog, because of german tourists who couldn’t speak English or Italian… Anyways, we are staying at “Orange Park”, an “agriturismo”, which is an active farm with rooms and kitchen. This is our home for 7 days. The housekeeper is Umpatissa, a very cool Sri Lankan fella, who is always bearing a smile! The place has a pool, a perfect place to relax after hard days in the field. The next day (September 2), we were meeting with Professoressa Serafina Carbone, a geophysicist at the University of Catania, along with a purist of a Sicilian: Mario Cosentino, suave, overweight, smoking a cigar, talking with the ladies, a true Sicilian. We drove through the small roads on the side of Mt Etna to the locality where the Pernicana fault, displaced the road (while the road was fixed, the protective wall was clearly displaced).We hiked a little to an abandoned farm, where a 200 year old was sliced and one side displayed almost 5m because of the fault!! We also saw a house built in the 70s, abandoned, because it was built on the fault itself, so it is in danger of collapse, its foundations being displaced a little every year. Quite a statement to the power of nature, nothing we can build can withstand anything nature throws at us.
Our drive back took us via Sant’Alfio, a quaint town on Etna which hosts the oldest tree in Europe, next to a bunch of chestnut trees, where we had lunch.
Our next stop was our first field stop, meaning we took out our tools: measuring rods, rock hammers, hand lenses, bottles of acid etc…, in the beautiful location of Aci Castello, which houses a Norman Castle of the 12th century. At Aci Castello, we examined the basement of Mt. Etna, so rocks that existed prior to the orogeny (mountain building event) of Mt. Etna. We found pillow basalts (lava erupted under water) with clay “oozed” in between them. After measuring the profiles of several marine terraces, we saw a clear contact between lava erupted under water and lava erupted on land! Clearly, this is the marine, to terrestrial transition, and represents sea level several million years ago! Too cool! After this exercize, we drove back to Misterbianco via rush-hour Catania… what fun! Red lights, lanes, priorities.. all those are suggestions in rush hour traffic.. no conservative driving allowed! Anyways, we returned home and made dinner, but Mimi got us Etna wine.. oh gosh, so bad!! Couldn’t believe it. Luckily, she got some other red that was stunning.. But Dave surprised us with a bottle of Grappa with Mirtilli.. oh man.. what a way to end dinner! Tomorrow: more exciting activities!