Sicily - Taormini

On Sunday, April 29th we took the ferry to Messina, Sicily from the toe of the "boot". They changed the location of boarding and where you bought your ticket, but forgot to change all the signage. So we wandered for a bit before we were able to get our act together and get in the correct line.

Four days later, on our way back, it was even worse and we wandered for a good 45 minutes. Again on the Messina, Sicily side they changed the location of the ferry boarding this time by about 5 kilometers but again didn't take down any of the old signage. It certainly didn't help that the wind had been blowing all today at over 50 miles per hour ( it still is as I write this) and we both were enjoying sinus headaches.

An hour later and back on the autostrada, we approached our first destination, located on the north east coast of Sicily, Taormini. This city which was originally settled by the Greeks around 700 BC is built on a mountain side which protrudes into the sea. Taormini came into modern prominence in the 19th and early 20th centuries as one of the stops of the Grand Tour; a retreat into a warm climate for the ​rich and famous of Europe. We picked a hotel at the very top of the mountain with a great view of Mt. Etna an occasionally active volcano. Our hotel is just below to the right of the buildings at the top of the peak in the center of the picture.

Our balcony and it's view:

The hotel Sonja was very nice with a great restaurant. The outside terrace was fabulous. It was a white knuckle drive up to the hotel though, but well worth it since we survived the "ordeal" particularly for Heather who was sitting on the "it's a long way down" side of the car and road.

The internet this morning is refusing to load any more pictures........so I will pick this up next time I have enough bandwidth. Tonight we will be on the 11 hour overnight ferry from Bari Italy to Dubrovnik, Croatia. Tomorrow after renting a car from Hertz (while parking the German Avis car) we will take a day trip to Mostar, Bosnia. The next day it's down to Montenegro.