Blogs from Taormina, Sicily, Italy, Europe - page 6

Our last days on QV: Sicily, Rome and home! Friday 5th September: Today, we arrived in the port of Messina on Sicily, an island off the southern coast of Italy. We all got up early and boarded our tour bus for the resort town of Taormina, about an hour's drive from the port. Taormina is situated high on the cliffs above the sea and is known as the "diamond" of the Italian Riviera. It is very much THE destination for Sicilians and is serviced by very good highways. Much like Queensland's Noosa, this is an ideal weekend getaway for Sicilians. Indeed, this picturesque town truly embodies all that is charming about this region. When we arrived, every shopfront's window glass was being cleaned until it sparkled by conscientious shop assistants who refused anyone entry before opening ... read more

Hello there! Been in Sicily a few days now. Had fab time, really glad I made it down here. The hostel is really lively, n happy hour I've discovered is actually about 3 hours! Woohey! Stayed in Catania as its cheaper here, but went to Siricuso n had a look at the Teatro Greco è Romano, or Ampitheatres where I come from! They were pretty awesome. My favourite place was Taormina though. Was really beautiful there. Off up Mount Etna this afternoon. Apparently it's pretty good, so looking forward to that. Got one more night here then I'm heading back to Naples tomorrow morning for the help x thing. Looked into catching a boat, but the timings didn't work out well so it's back on the good old train. Hope you all made it onto facebook ... read more

Buon Giorno! Tricia and I made a visit to the island of Sicily. I didn't know what to expect from the home of Don Corleone. I must say, this was among the most beautiful stops of them all. I never thought I'd say this, but guess where the weather was most enjoyable - you guessed it! It must have been 75 with a cool breeze. I thought it would have been a scorcher. Everyone was so polite. The town was very clean, little old ladies hanging their laundry outside would wave and say Buon Giorno! The Greek theatre was incredible, the view of the coastline was breathtaking, and the tour of still active Mt. Etna was a thrill. It was quite cold 2000m above sea level, but when you touched the ground, you could feel the ... read more

Why did we choose Sicily? It was actually because the flights were really cheap so we thought "why not?". We had read about the place just before booking the tickets and it sounded really nice, but after that we didn't worry at all, so a month later when we landed in Palermo we didn't really know where to go - we forgot our travel guide at home (very smart!). We got ripped off by a taxi driver who charged us 50 Euros to take us to the hotel (it should have cost 30 Euros) and the hotel was only 5 min from the airport as it was stated on the website. Needless to say we were feeling a bit annoyed on our first morning (mainly Axe). We went back to the airport to rent a ... read more

My next stop after Stromboli was Taormina, one of Sicily's most popular resorts, located on the northeastern coast of the island, not far from Mt. Etna. The town is perched high above sea level, and a long switchback road leads up from the train station. My guidebook said that it was about a mile away, but my guess that would be if you drew a straight line in the air versus actually walking or driving up the road. While checking into the hostel, I met an architect from Bolivia named Christian, who has a similar travel philosophy as I do. Stay in inexpensive places and eat at nice places. Within a few minutes, we made a reservation for one of the top restaurants in town called Casa di Grugno. We still had most of the afternoon ... read more