Taormina, Sicily

Frankly, of all the places we had planned on visiting while in Europe I had put Sicily at the bottom of the list. I had this stereotype of Sicilians in my head and I hadn't heard anything really about the island itself so I put two and two together and said "Meh" to our visit.

Well here I am, eating my words because Sicily and Taormina in particular, is exquisite. Taormina, is an ancient city that sits atop a steep mountain overlooking the Ionian Sea. The city itself is gorgeous, out of an old fairy tale book, gorgeous. The two main streets of the town are lined with quaint little shops where you can get anything from porcelain Pinocchios (yes I bought one) to a brand new Gucci bag (which I didn't). Taormina is the vacation getaway for the European elite and the bay below the city was filled with yachts and boats that made my husband drool.


And if the city itself wasn't spectacular enough the views were breathtaking.

(View from the Ampitheatre with Mt. Etna (yet another highly active volcano) smoking in the distance.)


At the highest point in the city lies an ancient Greek ampitheatre, one of the oldest and most celebrated ruins in Sicily. The ampitheatre is actually still used today for outdoor concerts, which is pretty cool in a way, but the plastic benches and modern sound system rigging sort of takes away from the ancient ambiance of the site. I tried my best when taking my pictures to avoid any of the modern "add-ons"


Also, at the top of the mountain was an olive tree orchard where Quinn decided she needed a photo shoot.

I will say, though, that one of my favorite parts of the trip was that we happened to catch a Sicilian wedding in progress. Let me tell you, the stereotype, in this case, fits. The bride was in a BIG dress and she had some BIG hair. All of the female guests looked like they stepped right out of my junior high school yearbook in the hair department. And the guys....big sunglasses, shiny shirts unbuttoned down to the their belly buttons and the shoes....fancy, shiny, outrageous shoes. I really, really, really wanted to take some pictures but the grown-up in me held back and so you will just have to imagine the Big, Fat, Sicilian Wedding.

I would have no problem wasting a week in Taormina, shopping, swimming and eating and drinking. Sicily, you have a new fan.