Taormina, Sicily

May 18, 19, 2008

Taormina, Siclily

After an enjoyable 3 hour drive, through some more mountains and coast, ( and some more tunnels, via ducts and great scenery ) and a short ferry ride across the straights we settled into a very neat little town, on the east coast if Sicily, called Taormina for a 2 day stay.

We took the cable lift up to the hillside town center from our beach front hotel ( no sunset here but could be a great sunrise place if we were ambitious ) and spent the afternoon snooping around the town. Very touristy but lots of interesting stuff to see and we will come back up tomorrow for a more detailed view. Nice quiet evening on the deck watching the full moon rise out of the sea and over the town. Lots of old Roman and earlier stuff to see here.

Monday morning we visited an ancient Greek Theatre (that has become a little bit too commercial) that is now used for concerts etc. and a small Roman period theatre that are both in the middle of the old town. Next we visited the top of the mountain ( on a wicked swithback road ) for some spectacular views of the coast and the hillside and coastal town of Toarmina. The top of the mountain has another small town called Castel Mola that is an old castle sight and of course a church and a small shopping area. One specialty is a locally made almond liquor ( very good we might add ).

It seems that every few miles, in Italy, there is a castle on a mountaintop and a forttress. I guess being on a mountain top was good for security reasons in old times. Even today every hilltop ( and mountaintop ) has a town or small city. Logistically it make things a little complicated as it is not easy to get up or down, but the views are something else.

We returned to the main hillside town for some more snooping around and had a quiet late afternoon at the hotel.

Tomorrow we will go to the south of Sicily and a possible trip to Malta.

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