Taormina

We had more than a little trouble finding our apartment in Taormina. Putting the address into the satnav sent us up what seemed a dead end after a precipitous climb up a narrow road. Eventually we just told our host where we had stopped and she found us and led us to our destination. The parking, in a garage for two cars, was on a decent road near our apartment. But the apartment was up an incredibly steep slope. With potholes and not well lit.

Anyway, we spent our first evening wandering into town and having dinner, Mike I think grateful to decompress after his first day of driving in Sicily.

The Roman theatre by night

For all the faults of our apartment (including the lock to front door not working meaning we relied on leaving the french windows open a little - fortunately such a steep place that no one passed by!), the views from the balcony were lovely.

Taormina is a very heavily touristed town. It does have some pretty old buildings to pass by.

The Roman theatre by daylight

But really there are three things to do in Taormina. The first is visit the Greek Theatre. Which is well preserved, but above all has the most amazing setting overlooking the bay. It is also still used for performances

The second thing to do is wander around the streets, mostly lined with bars, restaurants and souvenir shops. Up one side alley there was a sign for a Roma mosaic, so of course we followed that up. This was the somewhat disappointing result

But there is a very pretty main square which is spacious (a surprise given that the town basically clings to a hillside) and offers lovely views (and some churches)

No doubt innocent when created, but some of the artworks show a creepy obsession with small boys. Especially the wax figure below

The third thing to do in Taormina is to visit the Villa Communale. This is a bit of a trip down the hillside. Its a park, created for Lady Florence Trevelyan, who emigrated from England after an affair with Edward VII. Actually for sheer beauty this park is the highlight of the town. The buildings, while lovely, are just the wrong side of dilapidated. 

We also returned to the gardens at night for dinner in one of the very good restaurants that face the park entrance