April 28 - Giardini Naxos, Sicily, Italy

Yesterday, the 27th, we docked in Naples.  I, along with quite a few of my fellow passengers, stayed on the ship. I don’t particularly like Naples; it’s pretty dirty and can be a little sketchy sometimes.  I’ve been to both Herculaneum and Pompei and while I love the Amalfi coast, going there on a Sunday after Easter could be problematic in terms of crowds and traffic.  So, I made the decision to stay here and I got a haircut.

Here's a photo of Vesuvius from the ship.  We all know what happened here in 79 AD

The Naples waterfront

That's the Amalfi Coast off in the distance.  So near and yet so far.

This morning we anchored off Giardini Naxos on the island of Sicily.  This is one island I’ve never been to and I’ve been looking forward to it.  Sicily is the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean.  It lies off the southeastern tip of the Italian peninsula from which it is separated by the Strait of Messina. The island is roughly triangular in shape and is mostly hilly.  The eastern coast near where we anchored is dominated by Mt. Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe at a little over 11,000 feet.  I managed to get a little glimpse of the peak this morning before I went ashore. Later in the day the top was shrouded in clouds.

Mt. Etna before it became hidden by clouds

I took a tour to the village of Castelmola and  the town of Taormina which I had been told were the most beautiful places in Sicily. (It was a hard choice though because I love The Godfather film and there was a tour that went to places related to the movie.)  We had an excellent guide named Giovanna who provided more information about the history of the place than I can remember or recount.  I’ll try to give a brief synopsis which might help me remember some of it and who knows? It may come up in trivia one day.

Evidence of human habitation dating back to 14,000 BC has been found on Sicily.  There were several Phoenician and Greek settlements  along its coasts by the 7th century BC.  The island is in a strategic place dividing the eastern and western Mediterranean and so its control played a part in the Sicilian wars between Carthage and Greeks and the Punic wars between Carthage and Rome, all before the Christian era.  After the fall of the Roman empire in the 5th century AD, Sicily was ruled by a succession of groups including Vandals, Goths, the Byzantine Empire and Saracens.  In the late 11th century the Normans conquered the island and controlled it.  In the 12th century it became the Kingdom of Sicily and remained so for several centuries under various dynasties including the Spaniards from Aragon, the Dukes of Savoy in southern France and the Hapsburgs in Austria. Finally in 1860 it became part of the newly unified country of Italy.  That’s a very short version of what I remember from Giovanna’s talk about it.  

We boarded a small bus at the tender dock and headed up one of the most twisting, white-knuckle roads I’ve been on lately. The road was literally one switchback after another as we climbed to the top of a hill to the village of Castelmola. I don’t think there’s a single flat piece of land in this part of Sicily.  Along the way we saw lots of olive trees and, amazingly, growing out of rock there were loads of prickly pear cactus. The contrast of colors from the lush green hills going down to  meet a shoreline dotted with black lava rocks with the sapphire blue water washing ashore was spectacular. 

A view from the twisty winding road

You can see just a few of the bends in the road.

Castelmola is built around the ruins of a 16th century Norman castle.  The houses are all built of stone with little twisting alleyways along which there are balconies festooned with flowers on the second floor and some little shops on the street level.  We first went into a café where we had a small glass of almond wine, an almond cookie and a cup of orange juice with a raspberry sorbet scoop. Then we had an opportunity to walk around the village taking in the spectacular views.   We could look down on the town of Taormina, which was to be our next stop and is midway up the hillsides.  Further below was the beautiful blue Ionian Sea with our ship anchored in the bay of Giardini Naxos.  The little piazzas in Castelmola are paved with black and white stones in geometric patterns and even some of the main street is paved that way too. One of the attractions of the village is a place called the Bar Turrisi, the Phallic Bar.  I’ll let you figure that out.  I didn’t go in but friends did and evidently everything in the place including the glasses wine is served in and the faucets in the bathrooms are shaped like a phallus.

A parking lot in Castelmola

I saw this symbol with a three-legged creature with the head of Medusa in several places both in Castelmola and Taormina.  It's evidently been associated with Sicily since the time of the ancient Greeks.  It's called a triskeles or a triskelion.  I was interested because I saw the same symbol on the Isle of Man a couple of years ago and I'd never seen one before.  The triskeles was incorporated into the flag of Sicily in 1848.

I think this is a very interesting symbol

We next drove down the hill to Taormina, a larger town and quite the tourist attraction.  Once again the buildings are made of stone and the main streets are pedestrian only.  The central part of the town is entered through an old stone archway.  The streets are lined with shops including designer brands like Dior and Louis Vuitton. At one end of the main street we came to the ruins of the Greek amphitheater which was built in the 3rd century BC.  Apparently during the high season here the theater is still used for concerts. One of my friends told me she and her husband had heard Andrea Bocelli perform there.  That must have been magical. We had some free time so I looked in a few shops but nothing caught my eye.  

The arched gate to Taormina's main street

Some of the wall surrounding the old town

This and the next several are all from the old town of Taormina.  Perhaps there are more than I should put but I'm in love with this place.

After our stay in Taormina we drove down the hillside back to the tender dock.  Once again I was amazed at the narrowness of the road and the continuous switchbacks.  A few times we encountered  a bus climbing up the hill and I honestly don’t know how the drivers managed to squeeze by.  I came away from these two places wishing I had more time there.  Perhaps one day I can arrange a way to spend a few days in Taormina before boarding a cruise ship nearby.