Day 14 Sicily

 

Bill and I were ready for our adventures which began right after breakfast.  Our bus took us to Taormina but first Nunzia wanted to know if we wanted to stop at local honey place first.  Of course, everyone wanted to stop even though we had been on the bus less than 5 or 10 minutes.

Here's a close up of the bee hive.

It was interesting to learn what they did with the honey.

There were all kinds of different products that they made from honey.  They also had samples of olive oil.

This was the first time that we have had a wine tasting right after breakfast.  It was good but I would have been afraid to carry a bottle home in my luggage.

Nunzia said "let's stop and walk along the water before we go to Taormina.  This little village, Gardina, isn't as touristy."  If you look at the right side of the photo up on the hill you can see Taormina.

Nunzia joined us for a photo.

This photo shows the date of Gardina Naxos--734 

It was a beautiful spot, but then every place was beautiful in Sicily.

The bus stopped along the road to Taormina so we could take photos.

Here's a group photo of the smallest alley in Taormina.  We're all in it, but the taller people didn't show up well.

I took this next photo for Rebecca and Ron who put on the film festival in Beaufort every year.  These are the people who are in the Taormina film festival. If you click on the photo it will enlarge it.

Our local guide who is an expert on the Teatro Antico di Taormina showed us around.

 This dates back to the third century.

Even though this is a Greek theater, you can still see signs of the Romans.

Here's a view of Taormina from the theater.

Bill wasn't sure he could climb all those steps--but he did it!

It had some fantastic views.

Our local guide suggested visiting this at 2 pm as that was when less people were there.  When we left there were huge lines to get in.

This theater was formerly a gladiatorial battle arena.  Today opera and theatrical performances are held there.

It was about a 45 minute drive back to our hotel.  I knew Bill was going to enjoy the next event for the day.

We were lucky once again as Claudio Fava was available to give us a lecture on the Antimafia Movement.  He is president of the Sicilian Antimafia commission.  He told about Giuseppe Impastato who was murdered by the mafia. After the discussion there were a lot of questions.

We boarded our bus for dinner nearby.  What an interesting place it was.

Notice the wine bottles and bicycle in this ceiling shot?

The owner said he did all this decorating during the Covid shutdown.

While we were eating we were entertained by Giorgio.

The food was served on roof tiles.

It was another very busy and informative day.  

Turtle Safely........