Sicily

Mt. Etna is actually very interesting and beautiful, and still quite active. It's been spitting a lot this year! You may want to reconsider the rather condescending remarks regarding them having "their very own volcano!" The residents of Catania, Taormina and Messina all have a love affair going on with this volcano! There's also a nice little snack bar/restaurant at the top that serves amazing arancini (rice balls, a local delicacy which are big enough to share, the size of a pear). The temperature will be at least 10 degrees cooler up there. There's a website you may want to peruse, Magicofsicily.com which will probably have some lovely pictures of the volcano. Rick's books are great for the novice traveler, with all of the places first timers may want to explore, including major cities and sites. After a few trips to these countries, one may like to get off the beaten track and see some of the less famous but still very interesting places.

Catania is well worth a visit. There's Roman ruins of a theatre, the duomo,piazza duomo, the black elephant obelisk and just walking the streets was fun. We spent a day there. You should be able to fill 10 hours easy. Just be glad you don't have to drive. Next to Palermo it was probably the worst place for it.

My first reaction to this question was 'Why would a huge Celebrity cruise ship stop in a place and disgorge hundreds - thousands? - of passengers if there was little or nothing of interest there? May I suggest that you try digging a bit deeper to learn about it? The fact that Rick (or whoever actually wrote the cruise guidebook) didn't mention it shouldn't be taken as meaning it's not of interest. There are many interesting and worthwhile places that are not mentioned in the RS guidebooks. I don't mean for this to sound petulant; it's just that at least a little research effort is needed on the part of those who travel. Have a great trip!

There are several things to see in Catania proper, even without venturing out to nearby Taormina or Mt. Etna. From the Roman era (Roman theaters, the Baths) to the Renaissance and also to various Baroque monuments. Catania's Baroque monuments are part of the UNESCO World Heritage list. Rick Steves' guides for Europe are just introductions to Europe for the American visitors. They just cover the very top of the tip of the iceberg that Europe has to offer. A US equivalent to Rick Steves' guides for Europe would be a guidebook about the US that covers only the Grand Canyon, Washington DC and New York City (with Boston as a day trip from NYC).

Apart from the cultural highlights others have pointed to there is the most astonishing and colourful fish market which is an absolute assault on the senses (in a good way).