Taormina and Etna

After leaving Catania, we checked in to a resort hotel on the coast north of the city. This became our base for four days that included some of the wine tastings described earlier, but also a hike on Mount Etna, a visit to the city of Taormina, and a long walk along the beautiful Mediterranean coast near our hotel. 

We dealt with a lot of clouds and rain during this part of our trip, which made driving difficult (especially while driving on Mount Etna itself), and also essentially eliminated our views of the mountain. It was almost like Etna didn't exist because we couldn't see it, but we did get a flavor for it nonetheless,

Our long walk along the coast near our hotel brought us to an old Norman fortress built on a rock that juts out into the water.

Farther along, there was a great location for Shana to show how rough the Mediterranean can get in the winter.

Finally, toward the end of our walk we came upon a group of really interesting natural rock formations (they look set up, but are not):

And, just beyond those rocks, a really cute little village, that appeared to be a resort town that caters more to Italians than international visitors (of course, it was mostly deserted in November):

All-in-all a very pretty part of the country that clearly is busy during the summer tourist season.

To the north of where we were staying is the city of Taormina -- clinging high on a seaside cliff, which required navigating an extremely twisty road to reach the giant parking garage on the edge of town. Although not very busy when we visited in November, Taormina is a huge resort town, which also sees many visiting cruise tours.

Taormina is a really pretty place, with great views of the ocean and beautiful narrow alleys befitting a city that is built on the side of a hill. But, unfortunately, because we were there on a very cloudy day, we missed one of the best parts of the city: the view of the very-nearby Mount Etna:

The town's main square is particulary pretty:

Taormina seems like a place where you could spend enjoyable days just sitting and drinking wine and contemplating the views. Oh, well, maybe next trip.

Finally, we really wanted to visit the volcanic part of Mount Etna, which is the most active volcano in Europe. However, since the clouds did not want to go away during our days in the area, we weren't sure it even made sense to go. But, we did get a day of slightly better weather and decided to drive up to the mountain's "base camp", which is at 6,300 feet above sea level. There, we were able to see a couple of the inactive craters in that area. As you can see, you can walk right up to them:

Unfortunately, the clouds (and, frankly, the cold) prevented us from considering a trip up to higher altitudes of Etna, but we were glad to get an opportunity to see the volcanic landscape up close.

After four days on the northeast part of the island, we drove to Palermo, Sicily's capital, which will be the subject of our next -- and final -- post about Sicily.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana