Blogs from Taormina, Sicily, Italy, Europe

I awoke at 7:00 am, had a nice shower with plenty of hot water and water pressure. No AC here but it cools off around 5:00 pm. I was the first at 7:30 for breakfast, had the dining room to my self with Scubby Do on the TV. There was quite a spread… first I got American Coffee (with a large pitcher of hot steamed milk). Then a huge plate of food arrived: ham, salami, cheese, lettuce and tomato salad, and 2 spinach souffle cakes. On the side buffet was every kind of pastry imaginable, a bowl of chopped fruit, another of whole fruit, yogurt, granola, and juices! I made a sandwich with the leftovers from my plate, but did not end up eating it. I took the 8;45 bus to Taormina, about a 30 minute ... read more

Sunday - Agrigento and Enno We left Palermo and headed south to the Valley of Temples overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Driving south we followed the route Patten took when he was heading North with “recognizance in force”. He was ordered by Eisenhower to allow Montgomery to reach Messina first but Patten could do recognizance. Patten followed orders, sort of. He took his entire army north, doing “recognizance” on the way, met little resistance, reached Palermo and liberated the city. Another order reached him from Eisenhower. “Do not take Palermo”. Patten replied, “Should I give it back?” The landscape is dry and though it is green now, soon it will be brown. Now it resembles Ireland with emerald green grasses. Groves of flowering almonds and olive trees line the road. It is quite lovely. WE drove through ... read more

On Sunday we arrived in Sicily to a beautiful sunny day and Mt Etna had just erupted so we could see the steam! Very cool. A handsome Italian man was waiting to take us to our hotel ... Villa Diodoro ... situated on the cliff with a magnificent view from each of our balconies! Everyone went off to spend the day walking around the city. We all went different ways for dinner and shopping! Monday morning we met our tour guide, Maria Rosa, for our half day walking tour of Taormina. What an adorable city with the little streets and alleys, who much history! In the afternoon we all went for a walk down the very steep hills to make our way to the beach where we had a picnic with fabulous sandwiches and of course ... read more

Our group left this morning for our tour of Mt Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe which just erupted the day we arrived. It was an amazing drive all the way ... Well as far as we could go ... There was a ski area there that was open and we were abLe to climb a crater. SOOO COOL! We had shots from a shop owner of this red fire stuff that took your breath away! We were then off to our wine tour and vintners lunch. Our lunch started out with an amazing Antipasto then there were plates of pasta for us. We thought that was it ... But no ... We were then given plates full of meat with a fresh salad. Topped off with a bowl of fresh fruit which thankfully was ... read more

Our expectations for today were simple. No fancy shore excursions. We thought we could save $$$ and explore Sicily on our own. Boy did we luck out! A local guide directed us to a bus stop and for only 5 euros we had round trip transportation up the steep mountain to the enchanted little town of Taormina. It is most well known for its impressive Greek theatre that was rebuilt and expanded by the Romans. It is perched high above the Ionian Sea with Mt. Etna positioned as the backdrop to the stage. We learned much about the theatre and Sicily from an audio guide we purchased with our tickets to this archeological site. We also learned that this was the place/island of the cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. From the theatre we could see off ... read more

Monday 2nd Monday to Sunday 8th May 2011. Monday 2nd May 2011. Taormina. Went into to Taormina on scooter. Tom was concentrating so ended passing the entry and up the hill before he realized what he had done. I thought he was looking for a parking space. So back we go and get a parking spot. Walk around and found a Ferramenta (hardware shop) to buy some bits and pieces. We were in luck as they also carried the ‘Fragile’ tape for our postage. We have been looking for a while to buy this but no-one had it – not even the Post Offices. Went into the school to introduce myself and then to Tourist Information office and got a map. We decided to do a private tour of Mt. Etna on Tuesday – so we ... read more