First of all we didn’t stay in Costanza as I mentioned in my previous post – as in George Costanza from ‘Seinfeld’! We stayed in Cosenza which will make more sense for you folks checking out the route. We are now in Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean with a population of over five million and absolutely enjoying every moment.  The ‘Godfather’ t-shirts are for sale everywhere for those of you from the 70’s who remember the movies, and of course that’s all I really knew about Sicily – time for me to watch it again.  First stop, Taormina!  Before we left Canada we watched a few of Rick Steeves you-tubes on Italy/Sicily and he strongly recommended not bringing your car into Taormina and we should have listened………but then again what are you to do with your rental car??? Our air bnb in Taormina was at the top of an extremely steep hill, so steep in fact that when we got there and parked the car it refused to move, ie. wouldn’t start!  We couldn’t start it again to shift it a little and at that moment we made a unanimous decision that we would see Taormina on foot and let the car rest – and we stuck to it!    Of course that meant for the next two days/three nights we would be walking Taormina which would give Jim a well deserved break from driving our alpha romeo!

A very long, narrow and steep ‘road’ brought us to our destination where the view was fabulous off the large deck

As you can see Taormina is a hilltop town, population around 11,000, and is about an hour’s drive from Messina, where the ferry to Sicily from Italy arrives, and is also close to Mount Etna.  It is home to an ancient Greek theatre (3rd century BC) which is the 2nd oldest in Sicily.  The theatre is still used today for concerts, operatic and theatrical performances and of course welcomes many, many tourists as it was even busy when we were there.

I can’t imagine what Taormina is like during the busy tourist season as driving and walking those hills was treacherous!  The first night we walked down to dinner and of course the walk home was exhausting after a pasta dinner with wine, but we managed.  The following morning we agreed to walk up and down those hills during the day but not for supper, so we cooked at home the following two nights and had the best view for munchies and happy hour.  A few more pictures of Taormina and before I forget it was here that we had the best cannoli ever – I mean the best by far!   What is a cannoli you might ask?  It is a fried pastry shell filled with ricotta cheese, a little candied fruit and some chocolate chips……now what’s wrong with that?   Sorry no picture – we ate it too fast!

About an hour and a half drive from Taormina is Mount Etna and that was our next stop for part of the day on our way to southern Sicily.   As many of you know Mt Etna is not only the largest active volcano in Europe but also one of the world’s most active volcanoes.  It is approximately 3,326 m high and is the highest peak in Italy south of the Alps.  The latest eruption was on Christmas Eve last year when it spewed ash and caused a partial closure of Sicilian airspace.   As we drove up through the small towns my stomach began to churn as it was extremely twisty and I thought I was going to puke and I am not one to get car sick and I was in the front seat!   Finally things levelled out and we reached the top – so worth the drive and so glad to arrive and get out of the car.  Mount Etna was a lot chillier than Taormina which is why we’re all wearing our coats in the picture below.  It was certainly worth the climb and on one occasion  on the ride down I saw the partial roof of a house as the rest was covered in volcanic rock.  In 1928 a hugh eruption destroyed the town of Mascali as well as cultivated land and many buildings.  Deaths are rare because there is plentry of warning so you can get out of the area.  This was not the case however in 1979 when nine tourists were killed as they were on the edge of a crater when an explosion occurred – good thing I read that after our visit!

We walked to one of the craters, hung out with other tourists taking pictures and then took off for our next two hour drive to Avola(population of about 31,000) which was about a half hour south of Siracusa.  Avola is known as the almond-growing capital of Sicily but surpringly enough we did not get any during our brief stay……..not sure why! Here we stayed in another excellent air bnb where Carla, our host, greeted us with a great bottle of Italian wine from the region, Nero d’Avola.    Our stay in Avola was mainly to visit the city of Siracusa(population 124,000) and it’s here that the oldest Greek theatre exists.  However given that we had seen the second oldest Greek theatre in Italy we decided to give it a pass and just toured the city and the tiny Island of Ortygia which is part of Siracusa.  We walked here for two hours where we viewed, but didn’t visit, more churches, museums, piazzas, markets and of course had a great cappuccino.  We wandered off the Island and continued to walk Siracusa for a couple of more hours and ended our visit with the best gelato ever!   Mine was cinnamon and ginger and I was enjoying it so much I was totally unaware of what Jim and Marilyn had but no doubt they were equally as delicious.  I don‘t know what it is about Italy that gives me the right to indulge everytime I have a cappucino – well maybe I do!  It’s those delicious pastries sitting right next to where you place your order and the little voice in my head says “don’t listen to your rational side, those pants will still fit!  Remember that’s the reason you brought the stretchy ones” and so before I know it that pastry is on my plate.  But don’t think I’m not practicing restraint because everywhere we go there’s gelato, pastries, cannolies, chocolate and all those other treats – so I say ‘no way’ much more often than I give in!   And anyway what are holidays for if not too indulge oneself?

The first three pictures are of Ortygia and the last one is the Sanctuary of Madonna della Lacrime(our Lady of Tears).   We visited it not only because it was my namesake but also because it was an interesting looking structure.  Unfortunately, however, the whole place was closed and we were not able to go inside.   Such is life and we’re off to our next adventure tomorrow – Valley of the Temples so stay tuned!