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!