First, had to grab lunch. Primi: insalate di polpo, or octopus salad with potatoes, arugula, and mussels. Yuh-huh-mee. Little squeeze of lemon... perfecto.
Sicilian-style macaroni, in a sauce of stewed tomatoes (pomodoro) and eggplant (melanzine) with shaved ricotta salata (a hard, salted ricotta) and basil (basilico)
Lemon (limone) and strawberry (fragola) gelato, and some espresso.
Isola Bella, in the center of the grove. Literally means "beautiful island", and it completely lives up to the name.
Great place to rent a beach chair and get a little sun after lunch. Again, if you ever get the chance, go to Taormina. It is heaven.
I went to Toarmina proper, up the mountain, but I went back the next day as well, so in just a minute you'll see more of why it's so incredible. But first, I took a drive up Mount Etna (seen in the distance there) right at sunset for the view. If you go, follow the spray painted signs- they're the accurate ones, strangely enough.
When it got dark I stopped at a restaurant on the volcano. It was great! The chef loooved talking to me, he was excited that I was from Vegas and Orvieto, gave me a Sicilian cook book and everything, amazing dinner! I ordered the antipasti platter... 9 Euro... it came with the crostinis above (cured pork fat on the right, porcini mushroom tapenade on the left) and...
Cured platter... clockwise from top left: grilled purple artichoke, two Etna cheeses, 5 kinds of salumi, then headcheese, fritatta with ham and peas, tiny wild mushrooms, two kinds of pickled cipolinni onions, carrot salad, pickled artichokes, another wild mushroom, grilled, then zucchini salad, and pickled cactus. And...
Salsicca picante (spicy salumi) with unsweetened whipped cream to cut the heat. And that was just the first course! If I had known he would shower me with the best of Etna on one plate, I may have stuck with one course! (I still have some of the salumi- of course I couldn't eat it all) then for my second course...
Veal cutlets cooked in a special kind of Marsala from Sicily that's made with almonds (mandorla), sliced almonds, and buttery roasted potatoes. Yummy, and a nice glass of Nero D'Avola, which is an awesome native varietal grape that is perfectly suited to growing on Etna. Seriously, visit Sicily, then send me more wine. And some Pistachio liquor. I want to go back! (Skip Catania)
After some train drama, had to go back to Taormina the next day (oh, no!) after a grueling attempt to get to the top of the mountain (May day festival cancelled 90% of the trains and buses) I stopped to eat lunch in this beautiful cafe. Loved the floral trellis.
Spaghetti with sardines and fresh tomatoes, and dill, incredible. I would eat this again, any time. I have the recipe, too...
Then catch of the day, tuna, with onions stewed in red wine vinegar, olive oil, white wine, and herbs. Tender, delicious.
And also, this is the view from Taormina proper. The weather is perfect, as well.
By the way, they have an amphitheater built by the Greeks, from which you get another amazing view of the sea. Neat thing about Sicily, is they have ruins from every culture that has conquered the Island, which seems to be pretty much everyone, at some point. And they still use the amphitheaters for concerts and live plays in the summers, hence the wooden stage in the center.
I finally made it to Siracusa, but my room was actually on Ortigia island. But that's okay, because above is their Duomo... the cathedral of Minerva. So named because they built the church over a Greek temple to Athena, you can still see the Greek columns, inside and out. I was pretty happy to have some representation in Italia, I have plenty more pictures of this church if ever you're interested...
Siracusa proper has an archaeological park, one of the attractions is their Greek amphitheater, which at this time was getting temporary seats placed over the old ones, they were getting ready for a theatrical version of Ulysses, I think. They had a mini Trojan horse behind the stage.
But the (believe it or not) coolest part was the Orrecche di Dionisis, or "Ear of Dionysis", which acts as a natural amplifier. To get to it, you walk through the most fragrant garden I've ever had the pleasure to stroll through. Before I reached this, some guys walked in and started chanting, it amplified it throughout the whole area, it was really impressive, even the tiniest noise becomes magnified when you walk into this cave, really cool.
Not to be outdone, the Romans built an amphitheater here as well. Well worth the 8 Euro admission to this park.In closing, when going to Sicily, plan to spend at least a week. It's a really big island, with a lot of history, but I only saw the east coast of it, and I already want to go back and see more. Pay the exorbitant price for a room in Taormina your first night, as far as I could tell the view from the hotels was completely worth it, and you'll want time to walk around that city, and relax on the beach. Eat a lot, Sicily has great food. Skip the beer, drink the Nero D'Avola, and eat cannolis, seafood, and anything with pistachios or almonds in it, you will not be disappointed. The gelato is incredible. The pizza is thick crust, and satisfying. Buzz through Catania to see the piazza di duomo, but don't spend too long there, mostly an espresso/cannoli break should suffice. In Siracusa, a nice B & B on Ortigia island is your best bet, they're surprisingly economical, and the island is spotless and lively. They also have a cool fountain, and a temple of Apollo which you must see. There are some arches in the sea, but expect the tour boats to be in the 50 euro range (I wish I could have taken one, maybe next time). The archaeological park is awesome.
Tomorrow, we have another field trip, then I'm going to Venice for the weekend...
Ciao!
Hostels serve as all-purpose travel centers of a sort, renting bikes, holding events, or advising what's going on nearby.
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