Etna is billowing wispy smoke when we arrive in Taormina. We can see her at a distance from our balcony. The hotel is slightly weird, nothing matches, it's ornate Italianate decor has seen better days but to our right we can see a hint of the Teatro Antico di Taormina, built by the Greeks in 300 BC and in front of us the sea.
The sun warms us as we walk into the centre, dry heat, bearable. We head first to the famed Roberto's where they fill your cannolo on the spot and you sit on some rickety chairs and enjoy the experience. The town is beautiful, full of amazing ceramics, in shops, on the streets, as mosaics and scenes on the walls. The heads of Elisabetta and Lorenzo stare at us from restaurants, filled with...you guessed it, basil.
We walk home via Villa Communale Parco, with views out over the Ionian sea. It was built by an eccentric Englishwoman who called herself Lady Trevelyan but by all accounts she was no true Lady. She arrived here in 1884 after a dalliance with the heir to the British throne, Edward VII. Queen Victoria was not amused and Florence was banished from the court and Britain but given a generous allowance. She embarked on the Grand Tour of Europe and ended up falling in love both with Taormina, and the mayor. He gifted her land with a view and she created gardens and built Victorian follies there. It's very tropical, palms and cactus and sweeping views of the sea and Mt Etna.
We ate one of the most memorable meals of our trip that night,(unfortunately I lot some photos with transfer to the computer so you'll have to imagine the dishes). Rosmarino is run by a family. The daughter-in-law talks us through the menu. She suggests her grandmother's ricotta fritters. They arrive, we eat, we are amazed. Mostly ricotta with a hint of cinnamon, dash of flour and deep fried. Then comes chicken, marinated in juniper berries, coriander and orange juice. Next is incredible tiny small fish and calamari and a Caponata, a traditional Sicilian eggplant and vegetable dish, flavoured with cacao. We have over-ordered but we share, absorbing all the various flavours.
After a breakfast the next day of coconut brioche, we head to the Greek Teatro built into the hillside and overlooking the bay and Etna, booking for a concert there that evening. What a position! The Greeks knew how to build for maximum impact and the Romans added their columns and sculptures to enhance it. We wander for as long as we can but the heat drives us back into the shaded alleyways of the centre. We need a granita.
Taormina seems to be all about food. We head to the Bam Bar, famous for granita but for me it's all about the ceramics. Every surface is covered in hand painted ceramics - the tables, the walls, the toilets are covered with them. They're stunning. We sit outside on our ceramic table with a coffee granita with cream for the partner and an almond one for me. The tiny streets are buzzing with tourists.
The ornate beauty and colour of the ceramics here blows me away. I love colour, the more the merrier as the old saying goings. Big beautiful bowls with lemons and figs, cacti and prickly pears, fish jumping out of platters. I'm entranced.
Later we take the cable car down to Mazzaro beach and swim in the cove, have bruschetta at a little taverna and make our way back for a nap. Exploring, eating and enjoyment can be exhausting, especially when we need to go out again for dinner!
We choose a dining location opposite the Bam Bar. As soon as we sit, they bring us free Prosecco. We share an appetiser of smoked swordfish and tuna with a balsamic cream; the partner has beef with a gorgonzola sauce and I have Chicken roasted with garlicky, creamy zuchinis. Afterwards they bring us amaretti biscuits and a liquor - also free. Then it's just a skip and a jump (well a walk as we're a bit full but not enough to forego a granita) to the Bam Bar for a pistachio one. We sit for a while waiting for the concert that starts at ten.
The Theatre is awash with light, the stage lit up for the Opera singers but it's another hour before they even arrive and being Australians, it's getting past our bedtime. We listen for an hour and walk back through the moonlit streets. Our first concert in a Greek revamped theatre.
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