Taormina and Etna

Greetings:

As promised, here is what we saw as we came to the end of our street and turned left, ecco Etna:


Just a bit dramatic. It reminds us of when we were with Rick and Hanna in Bellingham, WA and Mount Baker was close by. This time it is the same size mountain but less than three miles away from its slopes. Oh yeah, it is also an active volcano. Last big lava flows in 1991 and 1993. It does make for amazing soil.

Our agenda took us north today to Taormina. This is one of the top tourist spots in Sicily. We tried to capture the town in pictures but we reached the limits of our talents with a camera and have just meager glimpses. It was just stunning.

As you approach from the south you marvel at how the Sicilians have been able to make a town adhere to the hills. Castelmota is literally capped on a hill.

At this point we were able to get a sense of the presence of Etna:


By dusk most of the clouds had dissipated except for the one that looks like Etna is smoking just a bit. If it was smoke the Sicilians did not seem to pay it much attention. TV news did not mention it either so let us just presume it was just a cloud.

The resplendence of cacti is amazing. The winding road was continuously edged by it:



The sea has calmed enough so that it is back to its regular color. Check the color of the Greek flag and you will get an idea of Mediterranean blue.

As for the roads-yikes! Thankfully there are some low stone walls to give the impression that something will stop you from going over the edge. Favorite moments are buses suddenly appearing from behind steep s-curves on these narrow roads along with motor scooters and motorcycles shooting through any available space. Most of this is done by Sicilians who are constantly talking on their cellphones while driving.

Stores abound here. There are pedestrian walkways all through the center of town but you have to constantly keep a lookout for the lone auto piloted by a Mike Lewicki-like entity. We decided to really break the budget (it was Gini’s idea) by requiring that lunch had to include a spectacular view even if it meant crashing a five star hotel’s terrace restaurant. We settled on the Bella Blue restaurant where we were waited upon by a young, sweet Moroccan waiter who confessed his weakness for tall Norwegian women. He felt that you could not have a relationship with a Sicilian girl because of the close cultural and family ties. The food was excellent for a fixed price of 18 Euro apiece. The seafood risotto was outstanding. Best of all was the view from the table:

Those are gondola cables at the top of the picture.

We spiraled our way through the steep streets. You could choose to go directly up or down:

Gini thought that this reminded her of Lombard Street on the hills of San Francisco.

There will have to be a return to Taormina for shopping since Gini has fatefully succumbed to the allure of the stores and restaurants which are without end:


Chris will have to entertain himself with the view from the streets:

However if you are thinking of staying here (good idea!) during the regular tourist season there are several reasons to not include a car rental. One is the streets and their Escherian nature but it also would be teeming with traffic when this place starts happenin’. It would not seem, though, that you would be bored ‘trapped’ here in the town.

There is a famous ancient Greek theater here which we were not able to enjoy because we lolled around too much at lunch and arrived five minutes after closing. Another reason to return!

For you literary buffs this where DH Lawrence once lived and the Taorminians are appreciative:



It looks like Sunday will be a day of rest. Va bene. Take care.