2017.07.01 – Taormina (Sicily)

This morning’s B&B breakfast consisted in a business card to a nearby bar which provided us with coffees and croissants. We realized that the bar was mid-way to the apartment we would be staying at for the next four nights. Jenny was eager to meet the “Tao Holidays” apartment owner as Tao sounded Asian and she could possibly make new friends along the way – until we made the connection that “Tao” is short for Taormina. Better luck next time Jenny!

Our new short-term accommodation was easy access, well supplied and well laid out. After settling in, we opted to make the best use of the place and went groceries shopping for the next few days. Jenny prepared some delicious pasta for lunch. In the late afternoon, we climbed up along a staircase to a small castle overlooking the town – a 20 minutes hike up providing some great views of the area. It seemed that the half dozen churches we came across this Saturday afternoon were all holding weddings with some very luxury cars driving the brides and newlyweds around.

2017.07.02 – Taormina (Sicily)
After our home made breakfast, as Jenny and Victoria had not complained about yesterday’s 20 mins. hike, I suggested a similar one hour adventure to a small town overlooking Taormina. By navigation accident, we stumbled on a staircase/path that offered a different route to the village of Castelmola. After some effort, we were rewarded with grand views of the area. We took the roadway back to Taormina. After lunch, we dropped by the bus station to check out the itineraries and we then walked towards the sea – another long staircase downwards. We visited the tiny island of Isola Bella as the entrance was free on the first Sunday of the month. We took a cable car back up to Taormina’s town center. We had some take-out pizza for this evening’s meal.

2017.07.03 – Taormina (Sicily)

Beach day! After breakfast, we walked, once again, to the end of a tourist pedestrian walkway (Umberto I) which led us to the Ancient Greek amphitheater – an impressive site with Mt Etna as a backdrop. After our visit of the site, we opted to walk to a beach area that offered some sand as opposed to the pebble stone beaches we saw near Isola Bella yesterday. My offline Maps.me application guided us on a route which we followed enthusiastically at the beginning but at mid-way the staircase/path turned into a rather Roman path from the antiquity – mostly covered in overgrowth. Clearly no one, especially tourists, had come along this path for some time. Nonetheless, we managed to come out near the beach. At the first beach kiosk we stopped at, we were shocked by their asking price for two sun bathing chairs and an umbrella – 50€. We naturally moved on to the next beach area which cost only 14€. Although the beach was sandy, the sea floor was lined with polished stones. The water was surprisingly cold on entry. We had a light lunch at the beach’s restaurant. While inquiring about our options for returning into town, the restaurant owner offered us a seat on the 5:00pm mini bus operated by the restaurant – for free. Back in town, we stopped for some gelato. We bought some additional groceries and our first cannoli of our Sicilian stay. Jenny prepared another great pasta meal followed with our cannoli for dessert. We were increasingly appreciative of our apartment’s opportunities to allow us to cook most of our meals.

2017.07.04 – Taormina (Sicily)

This morning, before leaving our apartment for a day trip excursion to Gole Alcantrada, we left a message to our apartment owner to schedule a taxi pick-up for our tomorrow morning’s departure. At the bus terminal, we embarked on a one hour bus ride to visit the geological and botanical reserve of Gole Alcantrada. After visiting the site for a few hours and dipping our feet in the cold canyon water, we returned to Taormina. We bought some basic groceries to complete our last meal in town. In the evening, we went out for some more gelato and we had our final stroll on corso Umberto I.

2017.07.05 – Taormina – Agrigento (Sicily)

We were curious in the morning as to whether our apartment owner had been successful in ordering us a taxi. However, as we stepped out, we saw the taxi awaiting us. We first took a one hour bus ride from Taormina to Catania. From there, we struggled to find the proper bus station as we had to visit three different terminals before finding the correct one. We also almost missed our bus departure as the bus was waiting at the wrong bus bay. Although the bus was only a third full upon departure, it completely filled up at its airport stop. We arrived in Agrigento after three and a half hours on the bus. As we were tired from our long commute and our B&B was over a km away, we opted for a taxi to get there. After checking into our B&B, we set out to find something to eat. We walked toward the town center and stopped at a café along the way for coffees and some sandwiches. In the town center, we had some fries and chips – something different from our usual gelato snack! Our walk towards the town center made us realize that our B&B was at a good distance from the center. We bought tickets for tomorrow’s local bus ride to the archaeological site of the Valley of the Temples. We also clarified the bus schedule for our next travel segment from Agrigento to Trapani. We had some good pizza at a small outdoor pizzeria beside our B&B.

2017.07.06 – Agrigento (Sicily)

After our breakfast at our B&B, we walked back to the town center and hopped on the local bus for the archaeological site of the Valley of the Temples. The site was quite impressive by its size and level by which some of the buildings survived over the past centuries. The site covers part of the great ancient city of Akragas – the fourth largest city in the known world at the time, after Athens, Syracuse and Corinth. After our visit, we returned in town and rested for a few hours at our B&B. We noticed in Sicily that most shops close between 3:00pm and 5:00pm; as for restaurants they usually opened up at around 7:30pm – still a bit earlier than in Spain!