Taormina Sicily

Thanks Lisa for letting me borrow some pics and journaling: Our final destination was Messina on the island of Sicily. We got off the boat at 8:30 and picked up our two very small rental cars.   We drove a one hour’s drive in the pouring rain to Taormina, Italy.  Once in Taormina we drove through small narrow winding STEEP streets deciding where we wanted to explore. Just the driving was an adventure.

First we drove up to a church high on a hill that overlooked Taormina. Gorgeous view. The church was built right next to the mountain so the chapel’s ceiling looks like a cave’s natural rock. There were cactus plants all over.

After trying a couple roads that we could NOT make it up because of a lack of horsepower… we turned around and headed down to the main part of town and parked. From there we walked to the Ancient Greek Theater… “The most remarkable monument remaining at Taormina and the most celebrated ruins in Sicily, on account both of its remarkable preservation and of the surpassing beauty of its situation. It is built for the most part of brick, and is therefore probably of Roman date, though the plan and arrangement are in accordance with those of Greek, rather than Roman, theatres; whence it is supposed that the present structure was rebuilt upon the foundations of an older theatre of the Greek period. This theatre is the second largest of its kind in Sicily and is frequently used for operatic and theatrical performances and for concerts.”

Thanks for taking me on this awesome Cruise honey....it was my favorite vacation with you ever.  I love you! 

Then we walked down and found a great pasta place and ordered bruschetta and spaghetti with meat sauce which was good. Then back to the cars where we found a post-it note ticket on our rental car. Since we couldn’t make sense of it and it was all in Italian we just had to leave. Hopefully Brian doesn’t get a fee on his credit card with the rental car! Who uses a post it note for a ticket anyway? We drove an hour back and had a couple hours to play games before dinner. Brian, Chris Jared, Geneva and I played Dominion. Then Missy, Terri and I played Phase 10 while Chris, Doug and Brian played more pool. They’re addicted! Then another fabulous dinner. After dinner we played a game of PICTIONARY and then the guys took off for MORE POOL and the girls just sat and chatted for HOURS. Love those girls!