Weekend in Taormina

Off for another adventure this weekend.  Our friends at the car rental place have another new car for us.  After checking with AMEX we have confirmed again that we do not need to buy any additional insurance for the car, so we’ll save some money this weekend as we pass on getting the extra coverage.  Getting better at driving a standard again, and we know our way out of town now pretty good since we are going in the same direction to start as last week.

We are spending the night in Taormina, but will do some stops along the way.  Taormina is further North than we are, so we will drove on one side of Mt Etna on the way, and the other on the way home.  Lots of beautiful views.

The drive this morning is beautiful after Catania when we hit the rural roads.  I love rural roads when there is a white line in the middle, when there is no white line you know it is narrow! 

We see lots of lava today

Not open, the drawback from being off season but the lack of tourist & traffic makes up for it

Beautiful views of Mt Etna today with lots of snow on this side of the mountain

One stop is in Randazzo, the closest town to the craters of Mt Etna.  They have used lava rock a lot, we see lots of it in the fields near here.  Many of the fences are made of lava rock, the church tower and nave are lava rock.  This was a nice spot to get out, walk some steps, and stretch our legs.

Randazzo, notice the lava up top

lava columns inside the church

as we were leaving Andre asked these 2 ladies if he could take their picture, they were thrilled, I think he made their day!

Church made with lave stone

We continue on through the Alcantara Valley.  This valley is filled with lava, and the Alcantara River has formed a fantastic gorge, Gole dell’Alcantara.  We weren’t sure if this would be open, so we were very happy to see cars in the parking lot when we pulled in.  We could not go down to the water level, they do not open these steps until 1 April provided it is safe and flash flooding is considered finished, but they still had a beautiful walkway that we could follow that gave us some amazing views of the gorge.  In the summer you can walk along the water into the gorge, this would be fantastic, but there is way too much water at this time of year to do this.  We also saw signs for riding donkeys down, and a water splash park.  Wow, there were only about 10 cars there when we were there, must be very different in the summer.

Gole dell’Alcantara

These yellow flowers are wild everywhere, we asked someone what they were, they call them St. Josephs flowers here 

After visiting the gorge we saw a sign for the Cappuccini Monastery that is not very far away so off we go to find that.   The monastery is at the top of a hill, along the hillside is a beautiful cemetery.  The monastery only has 2 monks left living there, unfortunately it is closed when we get there, I guess siesta time. The monastery was founded in 1520.

abandon castle, no time to climb to go visit

Wendy can spot a lamb a mile away

Cemetery on walk up to monestary

Next we move on to our final destination for the night, Taormina.  We drive by some beautiful looking beaches on the way.  Taormina sits part way up a mountain, which gives you beautiful views of the sea as well as Mt Etna.  It was a twisty road up, and parking is a premium.  We parked overnight in a parking garage which was an easy walk to our B&B.  

Arrived 30 minutes before I told the B&B we would be there so time for a spritz in the square right outside our B&B.  The owner arrived late, after I sent him an email telling him we were waiting outside the door, up 60 steps to our room, glad we travel light.  We have a nice little room with a balcony overlooking the square.  Perhaps the least friendly owner of a B&B we have met, hi, pay me, goodbye.  No maps, no suggestions for supper, no instructions for check out until I asked, and perhaps the worst breakfast at a B&B ever.  Oh well price was great for this very touristy town (think Banff), which is Sicilys best known and classiest resort. 

We spend the balance of the afternoon walking around town, there is one street that is just tourist shop after tourist shop, and the street is filled with tourists.  As the evening gets later it becomes much quieter as the day trippers leave. 

Supper tonight in a really cute outdoor restaurant called La Scala.  Can you guess all the tables are on different stairs leading up to the top.  The waiters here are in good shape.  It is quite cool at night, so you eat outside with your jacket on.  When we first arrived around 8PM we were the only 2 there.  There was a guy playing the guitar that was fantastic.  By the time we left there were about 10 tables of diners, I cannot imagine this place in August!  There are literally hundreds of cafes and restaurants to pick from, the streets must be packed!

After dinner we are done for the day, back up the 60 stairs to our B&B room and enjoy some time on the balcony people watching in the square.

Duomo in Taormina

View from our balcony

Photo exhibit in a church with pictures from the 50's and 60's around Sicily, very interesting

Library, books from the 1500's, very interesting to read about how much you learn from the title page, the books on display were all open on the title page

Roman Odeon 

So many cute restaurants to choose from

We walked to the back of a 4 or 5 star hotel. The gate was open but not the pool. I am sure in the summer, they stop people from walking in. Amazing views.

Band of smoke/steam from Mt Rtna

Mt Etna blowing some steam.

Town of Castelmola, about 5km above Taormina, we never made it there :(

Miniature village in one of the church

View from our balcony of the duomo

Fun people watching the square from above

Our breakfast at the B&B, so sad...

Lamp shades in La Scala where we had dinner

Amazing musician, played guitar and harmonica

After supper we walked to see if we could see the Greek Theater at night but there was no lights on it.

Wunderbar

Very fancy bar next the Greek Theater.