Wednesday
14th October
Taormina
A
spectacular sunrise bade our farewell to the lovable island of Lipari
where we boarded the hydrofoil for the 1.5 hour boat ride to Messina.
A quick, excellent local coffee before picking up our car then on to
the autostrada for the drive to Taromina. The local coast road is
closed due to the landslides still crippling this neck of the woods
from last week. Evidence obvious the whole way along the coast, with
even some lanes of the elevated autostrada closed due to flood
damage. It must have been quite a downpour. Taormina was only a
hour's drive, with its beauty surpassing even that of Portafino. We
are definitely no longer in a small coastal fishing village, with
spectacular panoramas at every turn and more high class designer
stores that even the well-healed traveler could poke a stick at. A
light rain forced us out of the streets and into a local wine bar for
a panino and coke, then we checked into our hotel perched on a
mountainside overlooking the ocean. With good books in hand, we
retired into our freshly laundered bed and siestaed yet again.
Taormina
was a suggestion from our friends in Byron, John and Craig and also
Olga from Santa Sabina. We really didn't now anything about this
beautiful town and are very happy to be here. Our hotel, the
eponymous named Villa Schuller is full of Germans - go figure! The
town is perched on the side of a mountain and is filled with quaint
streets and ancient Roman and Greek sites ... all to be discovered
over the next few days.
