Italian Holiday :: Day 3 :: Taormina, Sicily

We woke early this morning (7 am) as the jet lag hours are still working on us.  But, the view from the balcony was priceless!

Balcony view of the bay with a cruise ship just arriving.

After unpacking our cases and a lovely shower, we went down to a fantastic breakfast.

Breakfast with the view of the bay out the window.

Then we took a little walk around our hotel ...

The pool.

The pool bar ... made a special note of this location for later use!!

Then we went to find our car in the hotel car park, as we had to pick up a couple of extra things we had left in it ...

Ours is the little black Fiat ... but which one???  They were ALL little black Fiats!!!

After breakfast we took a stroll around the village of Taormina.

This is typical of the gorgeous buildings, in various shades of shell pink, covered with flowering Bougainvilleas.

One of the little paved lane ways which have either art galleries or coffee shops (or both!).

The streets were so narrow!  This is Via Roma, one of the main roads - one way and no footpaths.  But, the cars and scooters seem to be highly skilled in avoiding you.  We were delighted to find some Eucalypts had been planted over the side of the cliff (on the left in the photo) - smelled like home!!

One of the paved piazzas - this one overlooking the bay, with Mt Etna puffing away in the distance.

Then we headed to the ancient Greek amphitheatre, which was only about a ten minute walk.

It was worth hiring the electronic audio guides to listen to the story about this amazing ancient place, the way it was built, who used it and what for, and the evolutions it has been through since it was first built in 735BC.

Listening to the audio guide to get the low-down.

Afterwards, we strolled back to the village to look for a nice place to relax, have a drink and enjoy the surroundings ... and we found it in a little cafe called Carpe Diem, which is Latin for "seize the day".  How appropriate!!

Carpe Diem ... seize the day!!

A beer and a bourbon to quench the thirst from walking on such a warm day!

There was a little fruit stand across the street, so I popped across and picked up some bananas and a lovely mango to enjoy when we were back in the hotel room.