Etna and Taormina from the Port: Four Honeys, the Greek Theatre

Pick-up is at the quayside where your ship is berthed. The drive up Etna passes through vegetation that changes with the altitude, band by band. At 2,000 metres the walk covers the Silvestri craters and the newest ground on the mountain, the lava flows and craters from 2001 and 2003. On the way there is a local family farm, and the tasting there is specific rather than generic: Etna wine, honey in several varieties (orange, lemon, eucalyptus, strawberry), almond pastries, olives, extra virgin olive oil. Honey from four different flowerings tastes like four different things, which is the point of putting them side by side. The descent goes down through pine forest to Taormina. The Greek Theatre is the piece to see, and Corso Umberto runs past art and design shops, baroque churches and palazzi. Lunch is up to you, and the driver will point out which local Sicilian places are worth the stop.