The amphitheater

And so ends another exciting day! After I wrote the blog yesterday, I was exhausted from not much sleep the night before, so I went back to sleep. It was raining anyways and we had an outdoor activity planned. That got put on hold for a couple of hours. We had yet another lunch yesterday! It was the 30th birthday of the bride’s only daughter so we had a family lunch. 

It was just a short walk from our apartment, so it was great. A short walk is 15 minutes. We are getting the hang of where we are and where we need to go. Everywhere is either up or down! However, there is much along the main street as well and this location only required going down a few steps.

While it is never too late in life to travel, it would be a challenge for anyone with mobility issues to visit a place like Taormina. So many stairs and I haven’t really seen much in the way of accessibility, but I’m sure it exists. You would just need to choose wisely where you go. 

I’m lucky that despite some aches and pains in my knees that I’m able to get around no problem. 

OK - so I’m tempting fate this morning and put out the food waste bag. Let’s hope that I did it on the right day and at the right time! The system is not complicated but you must be on your toes that you get the right bag out on the right day. I think they pick up food waste three times a week. There are no huge garbage trucks that come by and pick up like they do in North America. Even in the larger European cities, garbage is handled a whole lot different than in our wasteful North America! 

Here’s the little garbage truck that we saw on the main street, which during the day is restricted to pedestrians. It’s pretty small. I’m very good at getting pictures of things but not showing the scale. You can see the driver’s leg in green at the front. 

The mini garbage truck

For dessert at lunch I had a fruit salad and the pineapple slices were so thin you could see through them. They were shavings of pineapple. Yum!!!

Fruit salad for lunch

We were seated at six tables in the restaurant - in a room just for us. We arrived at 12:00 and didn’t leave until 3 PM. Meals are very long! Since we were the ones to receive our dessert last, we were just finishing up when everyone else started leaving as people had bags to pack and planes to catch. The birthday girl and her girlfriend were on their way to Greece. We said good bye to everyone (until today) and then headed out for our afternoon adventure which was the amphitheatre that was built in the third century BC. 

The Taormina amphitheatre

We could see this from the castle ruins the previous day. 

The church we had visited the day before is on the first point on the left and the castle is on the next one over. There is a whole other village up there as well. It’s a crazy place to build, but you certainly got a good view of the Ionian ocean and anyone who was coming to attack!!

The castle ruins in the background

Looking at the amphitheatre and thinking about any large structure built back in the day (cathedrals, castles, etc) you just wonder how the heck they were able to build all that. The arches are smooth and strong. The rooms are massive. It was an amazing feat to say the least. 

Inside the amphitheatre

They have AI generations of what the amphitheatre looked like back in the day  - I guess to the best of the knowledge they can glean from historical sources and it’s interesting to note that this wall was extremely high with loads of columns. And there wasn’t a bit gap in the wall! 

M and Dillon in front of the stage in the amphitheatre

Same thing in the back — there were two large walls in the back with columns and there is room for many spectators.  Like all progress, I think this was the centre of the universes for this area, but it fell out of favour at some point. 

Looking over the seating

They even showed pictures of how they envisioned them having a roof on the place. Now the roof was for sun shade only and consisted of long canvases stretched across the surface. I’m not sure if that was real or not but the concept was great. 

It was nice to sit in the sun and just relax after some whirlwind days. On our slow walk back to the apartment, we stopped at a few shops and picked up a few small souvenirs. It’s a challenge to pick ONE magnet that is meaningful to the trip. We settled on one and we were good. I think M and Dillon were struggling with one. But why buy two and then later have to cull, when one will suffice. Make the tough decisions before you buy. Life is full of decisions. 

DH managed to find me a thimble to add to the collection and I found a cool bracelet. 

Once we got the apartment, M and Dillon packed up as they were moving to a new apartment. We were going to walk them there, but it’s up a lot of steps! The walking distance was only 11 minutes, but I think it was on the road and the roads are crazy to walk on. 

We helped them to the taxi stand with all their luggage. Thankfully we were going downhill and whenever a car came from behind, someone yelled CAR. I’m sure we were quite a sight! Within a short time, we got a notification that they had arrived. I don’t think they had as much difficulty finding their place as we did the first night we arrived. 

DH went to a restaurant for dinner and I went to the grocery store and bought a salad. I am done with large meals for a while. I also bought some breakfast items as we have an early start to today’s adventures. 

But as I was sitting in the main room of the apartment last night, I heard M and Dillon. How neat — they found stairs from their apartment to the main street, and the stairs just so happened to pass right by where we are! I’ll have to take a hike up to their place later. I figured there were stairs, but the stairs are not marked on Google Maps —- well, we might have seen them on terrain view. 

Anyway, they are much further up the hill, so they have a much better view than we do. But I’m not really here for the view from the apartment. 

We had to stop and look at clothing on the way back from our afternoon adventure and we spotted these in a men’s store. Look at this tiny shirts and they had hand made buttons on the shirts!!!

Mini shirts

Speaking of views — this was the view last night. There was some fireworks going off, but we couldn’t see them, but I think M said they could see them from their apartment. 

Here’s the one crazy thing about European homes — the number of switches on the walls. And what the heck do they all do? I was in the kitchen prepping the waste for today and I was trying to find the light. I can hear a whirring sound —- oh this one unlocks the kitchen window which is high on the wall. And other places when you turn off all the lights, a green flashing light comes on, but I was able to disable that by repeating touching it. 

I think their electrical outlets, timers, etc, are way more advanced than what we have, but without things being labeled, it’s trial and error to turn the lights on! But that’s OK — it’s all about learning!!

Our front door works on some weird locking mechanism which we have figured out, but not without the help of the video. And when you pull the door shut, it locks automatically, so don’t forget the key. 

Plus, it’s hard not to forget where you put the key ring in the house, because there is a key on it which turns on the power in the apartment. Well, I’m guessing that some power works or the fridge would be having difficulty. But it’s a good power saver for forgetful tourists who would be inconsiderate enough to leave the lights on when they leave the house. 

The laundry room with a washer is under the stairs and we found an iron and ironing board so DH could iron his shirt for the wedding. Just in case anyone wanted to see a European iron — they are the same as back home, but with a different brand. 

We have one more group adventure today and then I believe that the group will start disbanding. Actually, some people have already made their way home. Our little group of four splits up tomorrow but you’ll hear all about that in a day or so. 

I’m glad I’m traveling light and sure wish I had my backpack, but my small and light suitcase is OK. It’ll still be easy to move around. Not a lot of clothing options since it’s cool and I seem to wear the same thing every day, but that’s OK. Perhaps it’ll be a bit warmer on the main land.

We have only seen a small portion of Sicily. I have two more things I’d like to do in Taormina, but I’m not sure I’ll get time, so we may have to come back at some pint. But there are so many other places on the list to see —- there just won’t be enough time or money to visit them all. I guess it’s all about priorities!!!

On that note, I’m out of here. I might go out for a short walk this morning before we have to leave. 

Have a wonderful day. 

Ciao!!!

The wedding

I am so tired today!!! I will definitely be having a nap later on. I have so many pictures that I don’t even know where to start! 

Yes — we are in Sicily, particularly in Taormina, but I have been in other small villages in Europe and the architecture is somewhat different because of the location, however, the willy nilly way the streets are created is pretty similar. Let’s just say there is NOT a lot of planning. When these villages were built, there was no town planner to say this goes here and that goes there. 

The cathedral and churches probably had first pick, but then much of the rest filled in the gaps and some of these buildings have been here for centuries!!! I found the same in Spain when I walked the Camino. The architecture is based on who was in charge at the time! Most towns and villages have one central street and then it’s a maze behind that with many smaller streets (walkways) to make up the rest of the town. Then there is a much larger area where it gets connected to the Autostrade! With many hairpins which were fun to take in that big bus. More on that in a bit. 

Hairpin turns in a large bus!!!!

I’m not sure that anyone could really describe in detail how some of these European cities are. You need to see them in person and lots of pictures! 

The day started with a walk to find a geocache. That was part way up the mountain (hill) that over looks Taormina and upon which the ruins of a Norman castle sit. 

On the way to Castlemola 

As you would expect there were lots of stairs. I don’t know why all hill climbs start out very steep. It reminded me of the Pyrenees!!!

Lots of stairs

Soon it was a gentle uphill!

But the views were spectacular.

Spectacular views of Taormina

I reached the point of the geocache and I needed to get from the path to that rock wall and I decided not to do it. Can you imagine if I fell? I didn’t need to climb the wall, but I needed to get closer. I bailed on that one and that’s OK. There are others. But see how sensible I am? 

The geocache location

Then I came back down and we had a small bite to eat at the apartment. Then Dillon, M and I decided to visit the castle ruins on top of the hill and we were off. We went back to the stairs that I had climbed earlier. But this time we went all the way to the top. You can see the castle ruins in this picture. 

The castle ruins in the background

Reading the description of the path, the timing, and the distance, we thought it was going to take a long time, but it really wasn’t that bad at all. And there were so many views as we climbed higher that we took our time. 

Beach view

Opposite direction

It was very cloudy day and we actually were higher than some of the clouds and mist. It wasn’t raining, but it had threatened and the only thing we didn’t to get to see from up there was Mount Etna. We visited the castle ruins and ran into the my SIL’s hiking group. Of course, we would find them up the highest point in the area!!!

Inside the castle ruins

The castle was built for defending the city and of course had the usual small tiny place to hold prisoners and even a death well. We don’t really need details on what happened there!

Above the clouds

It did clear up somewhat, but never enough for us to spot the mountain. We saw the cable car which we had taken the day before. It was well worth going up. And if you want some perspective of the size of some of the cars, check this out. This is a five seater car and was the curtesy car from the Four Seasosn. 

A tiny car

While we were up top, M was researching where the Four Seasons was because apparently that was the location in some of the White Lotus shows. I’ve never watched, never heard of it, but she wanted to see the hotel.

On our way down, we were coordinating with DH who went to the civil wedding ceremony. It was his sister after all who was getting married. 

We had been thinking about an omelette for lunch when DH said we were invited to the after wedding lunch for family only. Can you imagine where it was located? Yep —- the Four Seasons. M was beyond herself with glee and as we arrived, she was taking pictures of this or that where the filming had taken place. 

And yes —- we were in our walking clothes not dressed up at all, but seriously — who cares!!!!

The Four Seasons Hotel

The GPS gave us funny walking instructions to the restaurant and we ended up walking completely around the building. And this is one of the guest room doors on the main floor. It looks very medievalish!!!! And as you can see the doors are small!!!!

Me outside a guest door at the Four Seasons

The lunch was amazing and we were very blessed to be able to take part in the lunch. Here’s a picture of my tiramisu, which was decadent. 

A very decadent lunch

And here is the happy couple. This is one of three outfits that she wore. 

The happy couple

Back to our apartment where it was now time to get dressed for the fun wedding. We had to walk about 1 km to get a shuttle bus that would take us to the venue. The venue was outside of Taormina and it was beautiful. She worked with a wedding planner and the attention to detail was amazing. From our persepective, everything went off without a hitch. 

The guests at the wedding

Many of the guests wore pink and it was all very pretty. Here is my jacket in case you want to see what it looks like. 

My jacket

The back of the jacket

I wore the scarf with it and it all worked out beautifully. I’m glad I persevered to make it, but I will rethink plans like that for future events. There was a quick ceremony officiated by one of their friends. They were officially married earlier in the day, so this was a pretend wedding. But it was beautiful and their vows to each other were beautiful. Very heartfelt and it sounds like they were made for each other. 

I had brought shoes to wear but wore my Teva sandals to the wedding. I was not walking a KM in those things. When I arrived and saw the uneven grass and cobble stones, I just wore my Teva sandals. So comfy and my pants were long enough and I was NOT the star of the show, so who really cared what I wore on my feet. 

It was nice because his daughters stood up for him, while my SIL's kids stood up for her. And they were walked down the aisle by their children which I thought was very special. 

The official wedding party

Another amazing dinner and more food!!! Although I think the lunch was much larger than the dinner, but that’s OK. 

Then off to cut the cake. 

Cutting the cake

And finally dancing to end the evening. We had shuttles to pick us up and bring us back to the town. We were on the second shuttle as I was getting tired and wanted to get to bed. Since when am I out after midnight? 

Then DH and I had to walk that same KM back through the streets to get to the apartment. But all was good. There was some construction happening and a few people still wandering around at that time. 

The streets were mostly empty at midnight

Just to prove that it was after idnight, there’s the clock. In one of the city gates. 

The town clock

WOW —- what a beautiful day and so nice that so many family members on both sides could attend and their close friends as well. A very special day for so many. There are still events planned for today and tomorrow and we are working in things that we want to see between those events. 

We were planning on going to the amphitheater this morning, but it is raining and I don’t know that I really want to go out. We have umbrellas, but still. Plus it is cold (cool) and people are wearing puffy jackets. I swear, I need to throw my orange jacket in my bag wherever I go. You never know when it can come in handy!!And it packs small and light. I MUST remember in the future. 

And that kind of sums up the day!!! I’m tired this morning and after writing the blog, I think I might go back and see if I can get some more sleep. 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Wait —- one more picture. Here are the teeny stairs in our apartment. I’ve no idea how they get stuff upstairs - perhaps through the window. Every where I’ve been in Europe (or many personal spaces) have teeny stairs! 

Exploring Taormina

It’s another amazing day outside! As I munch on my giant chocolate croissant that I bought at the gelato store. I’d better get some steps in or I may need to buy some new clothes and not because it’s cold outside, but because I don’t fit into them!

Locating houses is a mystery. How anyone can know where each place is just baffles me. This is the gate outside the small courtyard to our apartment. There is a mailbox outside the gate with a name on it, but not a name that we are familiar with. 

The entrance to the courtyard where we are staying

Upon opening the gate and entering the courtyard, there is a shuttered door. OK—- strange for us, but practical to keep the sun and heat out. 

The shuttered doors to the apartment

This is the tiny white sign on the door that indicates we are at the correct place. 

The sign for the apartment

Opening the shutters we get this door, which has a funny locking system, but we have figured it out!! 

The doors to the apartment

And this is the walkway beside the green fence marking the courtyard. A very busy street is just in front of that walkway. 

The walkway beside the apartment

So different from back home where each house would be clearly identified with an address or the name of the building, etc. I’m not complaining - just showing you how different it is here. We will suggest that she have the name of the apartment OUTSIDE the courtyard because in our polite Canadian way, we would never walk into a courtyard to check if we are in the correct place!!!!

We did some walking around and we are pretty comfortable (more or less) with our surroundings. Let’s just say we didn’t get lost once! There is no way I would drive a car here —- it’s totally crazy. 

I was so cold in the morning - I just wanted a big sweatshirt, but after we had lunch in the sunshine, I came back to get shorts and I was fine for the remainder of the day. 

There is a wall around part of the city. Well, maybe there was at some point, but the two main gates remain and between those gates no cars are allowed. Everything is delivered on a hand cart. But somehow this little car got in. I don’t understand all the workings of these places. 

A tiny car

There is one main street (more or less) in Taormina and if you look to the left, you go up and if you look to the right you go down or vice versa depending on which direction you are walking. There is a restaurant on the steps part way up that hill. 

Looking up the mountain

That’s where we decided to eat. Here’s a closer view. 

There is a restaurant on these steps

This is our view looking down to the street. 

My view from my seat

And yes —- those chairs sit on two steps. Yikes. They gave me that chair to sit on and if you slip, then you fall down the stairs! But since heights aren’t an issue, I’m good with that!!!

Unique chairs to fit on the steps

This was the view from one of the look out points which are all along the street. There are some beautiful hotels in the area which I’m sure aren’t cheap! 

Beautiful view

We have walked up and down the street several times and each time we see something different. There is such a mix of shops —- high end brands selling watches, clothing, etc, and then the shops that sell hand made items. We spotted a shop that sells hand carved items with the Pinocchio theme. 

The Pinocchio store

And shops where you can buy hand made items with your name stitched on them. Or anything else you want stitched on. They were handing out cards with Sicilia on them. 

Sicilia stitched on the card

And of course, there are the shops with souvenirs - we have seen T-shirts, magnets, ceramics, socks, and so much more. We will need to settle on one magnet before we leave. It has to be a magnet that has some meaning to us - like the gelato or at least something ceramic. We’ll see. 

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but traveling with four people can be challenging. Not in a bad way- but it just takes a lot more coordination to get everyone ready on time or to figure out what we want to do etc. But all is good and lots of good bonding time with M and Dillon. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

As per European architecture, thee are balconies galore and some of them are so beautifully adorned, while others remain a blank canvas. 

Beautiful balconies

We took the furnicular down to the beach and when we arrived, I realized that it was NOT the beach that had the geocaches that I wanted to find. But no worries - I might have some time myself to do that today. 

Heading down to the beach

We were lucky on the way down and the way up that we didn’t need to wait for the cable car at all. And it only took a few minutes to get up and down. I’m not a fan of cable cars as they tend to swing when it goes over the support, but these were pretty stable. 

The beach is pretty pebbly and a lot of large rocks in the water. So we didn’t really go in, but at least put our feet in the water. I believe that is called the Ionian Sea. In the far distance you would find Greece. 

Standing in the Ionian Sea

We watched a couple jump off the small rock just behind my head. He seemed to have no problem to dive off, she was a bit hesitant and it took quite a while before she got the courage to jump! I wouldn’t be up there to begin with!!!!

OH — I found the picture with my HUGE chocolate croissant. It was yummy, but I much prefer the flat ones we found in Spain. They are much easier to eat!!!

The chocolate croissants

I’m getting the hang of blogging on the iPad and moving pictures, etc. around. OK — so perhaps I’m glad I didn’t find that little keyboard. I would NOT hike with the iPad, but I would certainly bring it on a trip like this in the future. 

This is how small some of the walkways are between buildings!! Yep —- there are steps behind me that lead to somewhere!!! No wasted space!!!!

A tight walkway

When I was in Europe some years ago, I discovered these Ritter chocolate bars. YES — I know we have them in North America, but I had never seen them at that point in time. Now, they are my favourite and I happened to bring one along with me. I like to have snacks and don’t typically bring chocolate because of the melting factor, but I brought one. When we were at the grocery store the other night, I discovered them. The same flavors as what we have at home. Can you tell which one came from which country?

Ritter bars - my favourite chocolate bar

Maybe by the end of the trip, I will have figured out to rotate pictures on the iPad. It’s OK —- you can see pretty well which is which. 

After our visit to the beach, we came back to the apartment to have a nap. And then I read for a bit while the others had longer naps. I will say that this morning I’m feeling pretty good after a good sleep. I think we are now set to the new time and so should be good for the rest of the trip. 

Then it was time to head back to the pizza restaurant that we ate in the night before for the welcome dinner to the wedding festivities. I’m glad we went on two different occasions because the experience was totally different. First there were about 50 or 60 of us last night and we were tucked into the perfect spot. 

If you look close, you can spot me in pink!!! Yep — my travel fleece is pink. I’m like the Queen (god rest her soul and happy 100th birthday!!!). She always wore bright colors so she would stand out. I agree!!! 

The welcome dinner last night

We sat with some of my SIL’s hiking friends and that made for an interesting visit. They are going on some short hikes later this week and I had the opportunity to join them, but I’m glad I didn’t. While they all seem like vey nice people, I would feel like the odd man out and hiking with 14 people and getting ready with 14 people? Not my thing. I’ll be happy to be on my own and do what I want, when I want. 

My goodness, you would almost think I’m anti-social. Nope —- not at all - I just like total freedom. 

Anyway — the food experience from one night and the next was totally different. We got to try five different appertizers, and if I had to choose my favorite, I wouldn’t be able to do that. They were all amazing. Then we got five different pizzas. I will say that the first three were fabulous and the last two not so much. I’m not sure if we were all getting full by then, but it was an amazing dinner. And we got to meet more family members on both sides and of course the friends. 

By the way — we didn’t each get five pizzas. They were passed around and you took a slice if you wanted. 

This is how we are progressing in our familiarity with the neighborhood. On the first night, we needed Google Maps to get to that restaurant. Last night, between the four of us we managed to get there in a shorter manner than Google had done the night before. And on the way home, I walked by myself and it’s like a one-minute walk through the back street. Yep —- a “seasoned” tourist. Hardly, but it just seemed so far away on the first night. 

There is this massive tree in that restaurant and I meant to take a picture of the trunk before we left. But I got a picture of the tree top. It’s huge —- I”ve no idea how old or what kind of tree this is, but it’s huge! 

The tree in the restaurant

I think I got the phone thing figured out. I had done all the typical steps - turned on roaming, installed the eSIM, but nothing worked. So support told me to ensure the APN was working. It was not and I struggled the first day to install it. Then I tried again yesterday - NOTHING. So I asked DH to spell it and OH — I spelt it PHONE, not FONE and it worked. Hopefully all will continue to work while I’m here. I had to type that in - it didn’t come up automatically. 

But I will say that the support people were on the ball and responded to my messages very quickly. So while I was very frustrated, all was good. 

I took loads more pictures, but that gives you a good overview of what happened throughout the day. I’m up early and I think I’ll get dressed and go for a walk this morning. That will help me to warm up!! 

So much to see and so much to do!!! The wedding is today so I’ll switch my pink fleece for the pink jacket!!!

On one of my trips to North Battleford, I spotted a very long charging cord with three different connectors. I really only need the one, but I am so glad to have it. The plugs are not always close to where you want them and this way, I can lay on the couch and read my book and charge my phone at the same time!! Long charge cords are good!!!

On that note, I'm out of here!!!! Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!!

Again —- no grammar checker or spell checker —- take it for what it’s worth!!!!!