We had to leave our luxury Palace accommodations in Siracusa this morning to start heading back to Palermo to catch our plane to France, and I chose to spend the night at an AirBnB in Taormina. We were there on our only other tip to Sicily in 1975 or 76, and had great memories of the Greek Theatre cut out of the rock high up above the sea, and with a view of the Etna as a backstage.
We drove the expressway past Catania, a large city I wanted to avoid, not liking the traffic and parking difficulties, even though I am sure it had some fine baroque architecture, having been more or less leveled by the same 1694 earthquake that destroyed most of this region.
We the took an exit to Acireale, but it wasn't much to see. We found a Supermarket, which are not that easy to find in Sicily, and got some basic stuff for a picnic, which we held on a bench in a little city park with an awful concrete fountain labelled: "Fontana de Neptuna Mid XX". I am not sure whether they were actually proud of it, or just didn't want anybody to be confused and think that it might actually be a 17th Century solid stone original...
The access road to upper Taormina was epic, and we had to go round the 5 mile loop twice because our stupid Garmin Girl fucked up again and took us way past the house number, in a busy narrow one way street where we couldn't either back up, park, nor turn around... We double parked the second time around, just long enough to unload and let our young Host Maximiliano take our luggage up, and drive the car to a free parking space.
The room is fine, nothing special for 80 Euros (the same we paid for our "Palace" in Siracusa), except for the great view from the window. But then Taormina is a Tourist Resort, as we discovered when we finally made our way to the Greek Theatre though droves of German Elders , French Students on Easter Vacation, Italian Kids, and Regular Sicilian Folks on a day trip. I hate it, and the Theatre was a big disappointment.
The afternoon sun kept the only remaining walls of the stage in the dark, and much like the Greek Theatre in Siracusa, this one is outfitted for stage shows, and there is really nothing to see but a wooden stage, and wooden and plastic seats. Show business has taken over Archeology...
The old town main street was nice to walk down though, full of clothing and jewelry shop, and with every second shop a bar or a restaurant. Definitely a Tourist Resort, and not my cup of tea. The Old Norman Duomo was interesting, with ancient mismatched columns probably stolen from the Greek Ruins in the 12th Century.
We returned to the AirBnB room with a big bottle of beer and a Sprite, and enjoyed a Panaché alone on our terrace watching the sun set on a grand view of the stretch of coast way down.
We had to switch to Limoncello to make it to dinner time...
We drove the expressway past Catania, a large city I wanted to avoid, not liking the traffic and parking difficulties, even though I am sure it had some fine baroque architecture, having been more or less leveled by the same 1694 earthquake that destroyed most of this region.
We the took an exit to Acireale, but it wasn't much to see. We found a Supermarket, which are not that easy to find in Sicily, and got some basic stuff for a picnic, which we held on a bench in a little city park with an awful concrete fountain labelled: "Fontana de Neptuna Mid XX". I am not sure whether they were actually proud of it, or just didn't want anybody to be confused and think that it might actually be a 17th Century solid stone original...
The access road to upper Taormina was epic, and we had to go round the 5 mile loop twice because our stupid Garmin Girl fucked up again and took us way past the house number, in a busy narrow one way street where we couldn't either back up, park, nor turn around... We double parked the second time around, just long enough to unload and let our young Host Maximiliano take our luggage up, and drive the car to a free parking space.
The room is fine, nothing special for 80 Euros (the same we paid for our "Palace" in Siracusa), except for the great view from the window. But then Taormina is a Tourist Resort, as we discovered when we finally made our way to the Greek Theatre though droves of German Elders , French Students on Easter Vacation, Italian Kids, and Regular Sicilian Folks on a day trip. I hate it, and the Theatre was a big disappointment.
The afternoon sun kept the only remaining walls of the stage in the dark, and much like the Greek Theatre in Siracusa, this one is outfitted for stage shows, and there is really nothing to see but a wooden stage, and wooden and plastic seats. Show business has taken over Archeology...
The old town main street was nice to walk down though, full of clothing and jewelry shop, and with every second shop a bar or a restaurant. Definitely a Tourist Resort, and not my cup of tea. The Old Norman Duomo was interesting, with ancient mismatched columns probably stolen from the Greek Ruins in the 12th Century.
We returned to the AirBnB room with a big bottle of beer and a Sprite, and enjoyed a Panaché alone on our terrace watching the sun set on a grand view of the stretch of coast way down.
We had to switch to Limoncello to make it to dinner time...
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