Taormina, Italy

13 April 2017

We woke up in Catania to a market that miraculously materialized below our balcony.

And drove to the next town - Taormina, Sicily, Italy.  This is a stop we would have never done, if we didn't have "unlimited" time on this tour.  To us it became one of the most memorable places in Sicily.  It began with checking into our apartment - below the view from our balcony of the Mediterranean Sea - the land across the water in the distant haze is the "toe" of Italy (tomorrow's destination).

Per Wikipedia, "The Ancient theatre of Taormina is built for the most part of brick, and is therefore probably of Roman date, though the plan and arrangement are in accordance with those of Greek, rather than Roman, theaters; whence it is supposed that the present structure was rebuilt upon the foundations of an older theatre of the Greek period."  

​We'd skipped the amphitheater in Syracuse, as we'd learned it wasn't very well maintained.  We considered skipping this one as well, with the 12 Euro cost, but something whispered to us we should go in (maybe it was our friend from California, Mary Wilson, "what would Mary do") - so we did.

Mary's travel inspirations proved correct, as always:

Same view direction from our balcony, this time from the top of the ridge and back wall of the amphitheater - those Greek/Romans sure knew how to pick real estate.

Another view from the same spot.  Aside from being amazed of pure ancient sites, with other moments we're losing count how many times we stop and think "this looks just like a Dr. Zeus story, but it's real".

Before entering the theater's bleacher areas - "usher, would you please show us to our seats?".

See your dentist twice a year.  Okay, maybe the picture should just stand on its own.

From the other side from where we entered.  Again, not sure we humans have improved on choosing "real estate location" in over 2,000 years.  On the other hand, we're lucky for Italian inspiration in not burying all this and erecting condos over it.

Viewing head on into the stage production area.  There was a lot of work going on here prepping for a G7 Conference (meeting of economic superpowers) happening in 3 weeks.

A slice of Italian life #1 - the venerable Italian-made Moto Guzzi.

Slice #2, Italian-made people.  We know, sneaking pictures of people, without permission, isn't exactly proper, but at times it's far too hard to resist.

Slice #3, Italian made volcanoes.  Okay, Italians didn't make volcanoes, they probably would prefer to not have them at all.  But historically, Italian volcano experiences have informed the rest of the world over the millennia - when a volcano explodes sending ash, rock, and fire high into the atmosphere it is called a "Plinean" eruption - named from ancient writings of Pliny the Younger in the time of the destruction of Pompeii (we're going there in the near future).  The eruption of Mt. St. Helens was "Plinian".

This photo is of Mt. Etna, on Sicily.  It's been active for hundreds of years, usually just wheezing and gassing, but back in late March a minor eruption occurred.  While in Catania we considered traveling just to the North and going up the mountain.  On arrival in Sicily we saw the lava glowing near the top as we rode a cab from the Naval Air Station.  After that, the mountain was obscured in clouds, so we weren't all that motivated to take a whole day for the journey up.  A week later, now in Taormina, the weather cleared towards the evening, and there it was, still doing its minor eruption thing.

A slice of Italian life #4 - slices of pizza, very punny, huh?
Dinnertime - egg plant - Gerri called it "candy" - and Sicilian Pizza, or at least this restaurant's version.

Still erupting...

Palm trees providing the "fireworks".   Good night Taormina!