First Day in Taormina

 Tuesday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at our hotel. We both love a full European breakfast and were not disappointed. Our hotel is really cute but only has 9 rooms so we had eggs and bacon to order along with all the other goodies. 

We met our tour guide Nicol downstairs and went out in the rain for a tour of Taormina. Like most other Italian towns, it has been ruled by different countries/civilizations over the years: Norman, Greek, Roman, etc. Nicol showed us different ruins and how we could tell the difference between Roman and Greek building styles. There was an influential Jewish community prior to the Spanish Inquisition and the are Stars of David on a municipal building in their honor. We went into a few churches and learned about the saints that are important in Sicilian culture. 

Nicol took us for our first cannoli and it was definitely one of the best I have ever had. It seems like even though there are SO many gelato places here - it is more appropriate to have a cannollo a day instead of gelato. 

Nicol took us into the Greek theater which they estimate once held 6 thousand people. It had been used for building supplies over the years (she had pointed out when a building or structure had used Greek Theater materials along the way) but you can appreciate what it once was. Our tour ended after the theater. Even though it was raining the whole time we still had a great tour. Nicol encouraged us to go back and retake pictures during the week when the sun is out to better reflect how beautiful the city is. 

For lunch we had pizza and then after rode the Hop & Hop Off Bus for the full loop since it was raining and the city gets crowded during the day when the cruise ship groups come in. It was interesting to see the whole area and it gave us some ideas for what to do during our free days. 

Before dinner, we stopped in the art museum in the neighborhood which is a converted church and did some shopping. Dinner was seafood forward again and we had Tuna Crudite, Gnocchi with Shrimp in a Basil Sauce as well as Grilled Swordfish. We did have dessert (semi fredo for Mom and Gelato for me) but didn’t remember to stop for a photo. 

Today we are going to Mt Etna and the sun is out so there should be amazing pictures.