Taormina: Teatro Antico and Isola Bella (May 31)

A beautiful morning at Teatro Antico di Taormina (ancient Greek amphitheater) in Taormina. (Early, Kristi went for a sunrise walk to catch sunrise light on Mt. Etna).  Breakfast was so lovely on the rooftop veranda overlooking the Ionian sea.

Mt. Etna (active)

This afternoon, we took the gondola to Isola Bella and kayaked around the rocky coast and into the blue grotto (cave). Taormina is absolutely lovely and the people so helpful. And the aperol spritzers so delicious.  We've sampled some traditional Sicilian food: a sea bass with olive and capers, arancino pistacchio and of course, canoli!

Graniti (frozen dessert)

Tomorrow we are headed to old town Palermo for a couple nights...

Valle dei Templi and Taormina (May 30)

We spent a leisurely morning drinking Italian press coffee on our apartment terrace overlooking a lovely beach and the Mediterranean Sea (watched an old man walk along the beach doing his calisthenics--arm circles and stretches and the like...I might do more stretches and mobility exercises if I had a beach to do them on).   Then we headed over to visit nearby Valley of the Temples: (mostly) Greek and Roman ruins across the length of the top of an impressive hill overlooking the sea.

After that, we drove across the middle of Sicily to arrive late afternoon at Taormina, a lovely coastal town that has just about everything: beach, mountain, castle, greco-roman ruin, gondola, an impossibly narrow and unending spiral drive into a main parking garage, Venice-like feel with its meandering streets (except not at all flat....the city is built into the mountainside, and there are more steps than a fitbit can count)...oh, and an Oh-so-active volcano.   Our host at B&B Tauremenion, Giuseppe (Pepe) is a early thirty-something guy who, after studying literature at college in Catania, took a leap of faith and, with his cousin (and their family savings), bought a run-down building in Taormina with a lot of promise (and an amazing rooftop terrace and sea view), renovated it and now run it.

Morning view from our apartment terrace

Valley of Temples

Some of Kristi's pics: 

(Best car picnic ever)

in Taormina

Sicily, Scala dei Turchi (May 29)

Jane and I made it to Sicily! (BTW: We talked to Will and Dad earlier - they are in Cashel tonight).

Flying into Palermo, we had NO idea how mountainous Sicily is. Wow! Rugged, beautiful landscapes, vineyards, olive groves.  We rented a car from Palermo airport and headed south toward Agrigento (where we'll check out Valley of the Temples tomorrow). This afternoon, we walked some  beach, climbed Scala de Turchi (stairs of the Turks), practiced Italian with locals (while buying wine and sandwich-makings for tomorrow) and had a lovely seaside dinner of mussels and seafood Risotto during sunset. Yes - Welcome to Sicily! :)

The Swiss Alps!

landing in mountainous Sicily

Aperol and Lemon Spritzers overlooking the sea

Scala dei Turchi

(near Agrigento)

 

sunset view from dinner at Al Ficondindia (mussels, risotto, vino)

 

 view from apartment balcony

 

view from apartment bedroom.  :)

Holyhead Ferry and Dublin (May 28)

Made it to Dublin after a 3-hour ferry from Holyhead!  We spent a bit of time checking out Temple Bar district and a couple cathedrals.  Some live pub music and a party vibe in the pubs already (early afternoon).  Jane and I will part ways with the boys early tomorrow morning - they'll tour Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Northern England.

Jane and I (and you, if you're reading this blog) will be headed to Sicily, Baiae (west of Naples), Rome, Umbria. Then Kristi will join Sara and Nicole in Dolomites; then solo in Venice and Iceland for a few days before heading back.

We've seen some stunningly beautiful things in Wales and England. We'll envy their trip on the Emerald Isle - but Italy awaits!

 

Dublin's Stagshead pub

Seafood chowder and brown bread

Cathedrals!

Live music at Temple Bar

 

Will knows what this means