Let me start by saying even the downs are good . . .
My reference is really to the climbs—either up to Mt Etna
with a wonderfully knowledgeable and funny guide called Fabio, or up to
Castelmola with Tim, 1.9 miles of uneven but only slightly treacherous stairs
where, at certain landings there are beautiful statues of the Stations of the
Cross.
I quite enjoyed all of the effort; it made eating pizza and
pasta feel positively necessary to
have enough carbohydrate energy to get up and down! My first meal was aubergine
(eggplant) ravioli with parmesan. The restaurant was steps away from our hotel overlooking
Isola Bella, and it had a lovely view. The local Etna rose was crisp, chilled,
and delicious. It was the start of a fabulous five days, and throughout that time there
wasn’t a meal that disappointed nor a vista that didn’t give me reason to pause
and sigh. When I opened the curtains to our room and saw Isola Bella looking
back, well, I am fairly certain I gasped something in delight.
There’s too much to tell and far too many photos to post,
but there’s room for highlights . . .
The sea is gorgeous, but cold. We bought slip ons to enable
us to get beyond the rocky shoreline, but I only managed up to my ankles. The
Mediterranean doesn’t warm up much before June or July, I suspect. Tim,
however, was determined to swim in the sea and so after a slow start he managed
the full immersion, dodging between tiny jellyfish about the size of a rosebud.
Beach bumming was good people watching, though, and the sun was warm.
We took a tour of the Greco-Roman amphitheatre (Teatro
Antico) in Taormina; while you can stroll the theatre on your own, it’s nice to
have someone tell you a bit about the history and culture and I’d not done any
reading ahead. Guido, our guide, told us who lived where (Truman Capote, DH Lawrence,
Oscar Wilde, Johannes Brahms, Florence Trevelyan), how the Romans rebuilt the
Greek theatre and many of the original bricks still stand, primarily because
they weren’t worth stealing.
The theatre is still in use; when we were there
they were setting up for a concert, and I recall an advert for Duran Duran.
Guido also kindly tested the acoustics by clapping loudly so we could hear the
echo as we stood in the middle of the open air arena. It has a lovely view of Etna as well as the sea; you could lose yourself in the view if the concert isn't worthwhile!
Taormina has lovely squares and main streets filled with
shops selling ceramics, postcards, coffee and cannoli and dozens of
restaurants. We chose some places simply by where they were rather than knowing
where to go—most of the menus have the same selections, and all of the prices
were about the same. And it’s just about all Italian; there was one kebab shop we spotted
when we found ourselves drawn to a little café on a side street for an iced
coffee or a glass of wine at the end of each afternoon.
We hadn’t practiced any Italian—we’d picked up a few phrases
when we went to Naples and to Sorrento a
couple of years ago—but it didn’t matter; just about everywhere we went there
was enough English spoken to find our way around a menu or a map. Everyone was
pleasant and helpful. Well, there was one taxi driver who was a bit brusque and
no doubt overcharged us for a short journey, but we had walked quite a bit into
nearby Naxos and wanted to get back up to Taormina without the effort of
hundreds of stairs.Again.
If I haven’t enticed you enough to see Sicily, and
particularly Taormina, do drop me a comment—there are a lot more stories and
photos I can share to convince you. Don’t let hundreds of steps deter you—there
are other ways to get up and down this lovely area (including a cable way that
goes some of the distance), though the pizza tastes that much better when you
know you’ve earned it.
