Taormina, station of the cross & Greek Theater and Giardini-Naxos

Woke up this morning early, time to get the day started.  We had read about a walk to Castello Saraceno, a 20 minute walk with stations of the cross.  Look up, way up, that is where we are going, so many stairs.  The entrance is blocked by a barcade, but someone has written in English that it is safe, so under/over we go, reminded us of Cinque Terre a couple of years ago when all the trails said closed, but the locals told us which ones were open.  We did see 3 other people on the walk.

Much quieter in the morning

La Scala (the stairs) restaurant where we has supper last night, we walked through the restaurant to get to the start of our walk

If my MIL would have a scooter, this would be the colour

Station of the cross

View at last station

Castelmola on top of the hill

View from the castle but no visiting

Proof that Wendy made it

So many stairs, climbed 200 meters

The barricade says "You can pass"

Caution sign says "You can go up, It is safe"

On the way back to town, we took 2 small alleys instead of the main way

smallest EVER

Since it was only 8:30, we decided to grab a bit to eat. Stuffed croissants, Chocolate for Wendy and Cream for me and a bottle of water between the 2 of us. 6.6 Euros. Would have been cheaper if we did not sit down and just took it with us but it was good to sit down.

We then walked to the Greek Theater. Still very quiet in town.  Some of the shops are just getting ready to open

Yo can see the cross on one hill and the castle on the other that we walked up to.

We arrived at the gates at 8:55 for the Greek Theater. Perfect timing, one more couple ahead of us. We spent about 1 hour visiting. We skipped the small information display at the entrance and headed out to admire the theater before too many people came in.  What a great theater, second largest outside of Greece, Siracusa being the largest.

Originally there was no wall behind the stage, so the spectators would have the fantastic view of the water as well. The Romans made the wall. I posted a photo of what it would have look like in the Roman times. Looks great also

The town of Taormina

Looking North

Proof that I exist

Wendy taking a video to share on Facebook

small museum at the top

Part of the Roman Wall still standing

Pink Marble columns

What the theater would have looked like in Roman times

Headed back to the B&B as we need to check out at 10:30. Quick showers were needed after our climb up the mountain.

I got Vetoed on another magnet.

Where we had croissants, Wendy says 1963 is was good year

Mosaic in the clock tower.

Took our overnight bag to the car and returned to explore more of the town.

We then explored the gardens called Villa Comunale which were created by an English Lady and then donated to the town. I can imagine this being a very busy spot once the temperature climb over 30 degrees. Lots of shade here.

pathway with olive trees

Stone and wood pagoda

We were in tshirts by noon, it is really not this cold

Popularized by the likes of Greta Garbo, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams and Elizabeth Taylor

Pretty busy now on the main walking street, what a difference from 7:30 this AM

We decided to visit the town,  Giardini-Naxos,  that we could see from Taormina. First we need to get our car out of the carpark, paid for parking 15 Euros for 24 hours, ouch.  Only about a 15 minutes drive. Paid 3 euro for 3 hours of parking. Went exploring the beach and get something to eat.
 Found one place that had pizza and once we sat down and started to order, the waiter told us that it was only during the evening this time of the year. I think we were the only 2 there. The whole town was pretty quiet.

We walked further and found a small bar/coffee shop where we both had something that resembled a calzone but was not. I had a beer and Wendy had water, the bill was less than 7 Euro.  We then picked a spot on the beach and stayed for about 1 hour. Surprise but Wendy had a nap.

The little walkway between 2 streets

This was our landmark so we knew where our car was parked

Not many birds to do photography with, seagulls it is

Yes, I found an ice cream shop open

Headed home after enjoying a delicious gelato. Ended up on a toll highway for about 35KM, we were happy when it was only 1.5 Euro.  Part of the beach here was quite rocky, but it was nice and sandy where we sat.  No one was swimming, but we did see people that did not have bathing suits, so just sat out in their bra and underwear.

The exits are sometimes marked on the pave in additions to signs we have

Beautiful evening back in Siracusa

When we got home I realized that we were early enough to catch a concert. Went to the theater where it was to be performed and there was a notice. After a few minutes we realized that not only the time had changed but also the date.

We treated ourselves to a gelato each since I was the only one that had one this afternoon and Wendy wanted to save hers for the evening after supper. And I also felt bad if she had to have one by herself.

This is the fancy (driving) shopping street in town.  On Sundays it is basically a walking street.

Finsished the day with about 30,000 steps with many of those going up or down. A great weekend.