Surprised by Italy: Day Eight: Sicily

As the ferry neared Cantania port in Sicily on Saturday morning we had our first glimpses of Mount Etna. As it turned out, this was the only time we would see her when she didn't have her head in the clouds.

Majestic Mount Etna

The ferry docked at 11:00 a.m. Other than a young father and his son, we were the only ones allowed to disembark early because we didn't have luggage! The padre and his 3-year-old bambino rode with us on the shuttle that took us out of the docking area. The father was a farmer who knew enough English to carry on a conversation, and when we got out of the shuttle he walked with us to the bus stop to show us how to get to the airport where our rental car awaited us. Mark and I took turns walking with his little boy who was trailing several yards behind his dad on the side of a busy highway. His father wasn't worried about him, but I was! He chattered away to me in toddler Italian and all I could say was: "No capisco Italiano."

Our Catania Friends

After our friends left us we searched for the bus that would take us to the airport. We met a young couple from Canada who were waiting for the same bus, so we chatted with them until we arrived at our destination. We found that any time we met other English-speaking tourists in Italy, they were eager to strike up a conversation and compare travel experiences with us. Sometimes we got some good tips, too, like when an Australian couple in Praiano told us where to find the best gelato in Amalfi.

I was happy to let Mark be the sole driver of the rental car, knowing that driving in Italy was a challenge I wasn't up to. Acting as navigator wasn't easy either, and it took a couple of false starts to find our way out of Catania and on the right road to Taormina. We tried to find a lunch spot in one of the little villages along the way, but it was siesta time, so the only thing we could find to eat was gelato - an opportunity to try more flavors!

As we drove closer to Taormina we saw a mountaintop city on the skyline ahead of us. I was astonished that anyone would have built a city that high up on a mountain. How and why did they do it? I later learned that the town is Castillo de Castelmola, a medieval city that overlooks Taormina. What I didn't realize when I booked our room is that Taormina is about halfway up the mountain! As we followed the directions of our GPS we found ourselves going higher and higher on hairpin curves, barely squeaking past the cars coming down on the other side of the narrow road. I was so relieved when we found the Villa Floresta where we were going to stay, but after we checked in, our host told us that we had to take our car back down the mountain to a parking garage! Just finding the garage and figuring out how to walk back to the villa was another adventure . . . .

Stairs leading to the Medieval villa where our room was.

View from Taormina

After settling into our room we had time to explore Taormina. There was a wedding taking place at the church right across from our building and lots of medieval buildings, shops, and restaurants to see. Not to mention the views of the Ionian Sea from this lofty setting!