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| Mount Etna under snow |
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| Street scene inTaormina |
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| View from Greek Theatre over the Bay of Taormina |
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| Main Square in Taormina |
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| Lizard sunning himself in Greek Amphitheatre |
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| THE DOGFATHER |
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| Side Alley in Taornima |
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| Taormina Ceramic Souvenirs |
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| City Hall Taormina, beautiful sienna colouring |
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| City of Taormina |
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| Fishing Boats on Naxos Beach |
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| Delphina gracing Naxos Beach |
The snow-capped cone of Mount Etna just wore a small cloud hat when we sailed into Giardini Naxos, the tender port to Taormina.
Naxans, the original inhabitants, settled here around 800 BC. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Normans played smaller or larger parts in the town's history and left their mementos.
Mount Etna, the best known volcano of Eastern Sicily gives it a spectacular background. It has erupted around a dozen times in the last forty years. In 1971 and 1983 rivers of molten lava destroyed the two highest stations of the skiing funicular. Just a week ago, it coughed again, and a streak of black lava mars the snowy white upper flanks of the mountain.
Just half an hour away, on the side of Monte Tauro sits Taormina, which was established by the Greeks as Taormenium. The remnants of a Greek Theatre with impressive acoustics and an even more impressive view is carved into the mountain above the town of Taormina. It is the second largest Greek Theatre, second only to the one in Syracuse. The acoustics still work, despite the fact that only 'ruins' remain, as one of the visitors proved with an energetic rendering (trained baritone voice) of "Oh, what a beautiful Morning". This earned him enthusiastic 'bravos' from every Latino somewhere in the many seats of the amphitheatre...especially from the Italian kids in the 'bleachers'.
Charming streets are lined with ochre and sienna coloured houses, a converted Greek 'cella' (enclosed space) is now a photogenic church. Restaurants, bistros and wine bars abound, chic small shops offer fashionable clothing, and artisans sell the famous Taormina ceramics, fine olive oil, and Sicilian sweets (almond cookies to die for). One gets lost in the alleys and back stairways, hidden corners and dead ends - and all is delightful, especially as the sun bathed the entire scene in bright Mediterranean light.
Winston Churchill loved it here, D.H. Lawrence lived here several years, Goethe found it a paradise, and the modern glitz and glamour crowd pays frequent visits. One of the more exclusive hotels offers Coca Cola (how plebeian!) for 18 Euros a glass, so one needs to be an upper echelon celebrity to qualify for that refreshment. Other more modest bistros and trattorias without a view of Mount Etna and the azure sea charge something more reasonable for wine, pasta, pizza and frutti di mare....all delicious!
The feared and famous Mafia Corleone Family lived just around the mountain, in a small sea side village. The last surviving grandmother died a few years ago, Cosa Nostra has moved on to bigger cosas. But t-shirts with Marlon Brandos glowering face adorned with the invitation of 'baccio mi mano' (something like that, meaning 'kiss my hand') are on sale in souvenir shops. Well, as Godfather, he made that offer to many of his minions. An offer, none of them ever refused. It they would have, they would have finished up inside a family produced concrete block at the bottom of the sea.
A wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable slow day, after the frenetic and frantic visits of the last few stops.
