Sicily - Taormina

20-23rd May 2015

Ravello to Taormina 6:52hr (but took a lot longer)

I had a bit of a last minute panic trying to find us somewhere to stay in Taormina, Sicily, after I received a last minute cancellation from the apartment I had booked. Tano, our host in Ravello, suggested a B&B would be a good experience for us. I had always been a little reluctant to book a B&B because of the 'storm' we create - 3 loud boys, but decided to give it a try and booked us into B&B Casa Margherita.
It was a huge drive from Ravello to Taormina. We kicked off early, driving along the otherworldly Amalfi coast by 9am in an unreasonably large and overloaded car.  Chris did an amazing job navigating through the treacherously narrow and twisted coastal roads. The sights I experienced as a passenger were unforgettable.

Ferry souvenir shop

Later, roadworks on the motorway forced us onto a 45 min hair-raising deviation. We finally crossed over on the car ferry to Messina(Sicily). The first godfather signs were in the form of T-shirts on the ferry, no discretion. My discussions with the boys to not mention the 'G' word in Sicily seemed a little over dramatic now.
A little further drive south down the coast we reached Taormina, Sicily's most popular summer destination.

Our host 'Laura' had agreed to be called and meet us, to then lead us to her home. She arrived looking very 'Sicilian', kisses and compliments for us all. Her eyes brightened with the sight of the boys - "I didn't know you had three children she said, I love children, my daughter 'Julia', will be so pleased". And so our journey into Laura's home began, full of initially almost overwhelming hospitality, later to be realized as sincere generosity of spirit. This is what I had read, that the Sicilian people have an enormous hospitality - it was something truly wonderful to experience.
"My home is your home", Laura said as we entered her house - what I really didn't realize at that time is that she truly meant it. I am so guarded by comparison.
Over the next three nights it was a pleasure to feel like we were part of her family. On our last night we had asked Laura if we could cook her dinner. We waited for an opportunity, her kitchen was full of chatting Italian women and we felt a little intimidated to enter. We eventually built up the courage only to find that these women were Laura's family waiting for us. Her cousin, aunty and her 75 year old mother who had driven 90 minutes by car to come and visit us. Like that picture of Italian mamas in my head, we were happily smothered with hugs and kisses, the "bel bambino", "bellissimo tre" boys like cheek-pinching beckons. It warmed my heart, so much affection.

A backtrack to our first night out involved a venture into Taormina town, only a 20 minute walk from the B&B. Ollie walked in ahead with Giulia, Laura's daughter. I was quite impressed with this, my little boy seemed so grown up and confident, he didn't seem to mind that he couldn't speak any Italian at all and Giulia just a little English. A little later Laura drove us in where we meet up with Ollie for dinner.

We revisited the next morning after a very generous, sweet silician breakfast on the balcony with views of Etna in the distance. Chocolate filled croissants, cake, fruit and coffee.  During the daytime you could easily make out the glamour of Taormina. It's difference to most chic resorts probably being it's elevation and sweeping views over the gulf of Naxos.  It's main street is ridiculously touristy, but it is combined with a stunning Greek theatre above and dotted with medieval churches.

Taormina Lanes.

Taormina Lanes. Lachlan in the pushchair

Window displays of Marzipan fruits.

We took the funicular down from Taormina's main street to the coast, about 250m. Our mission was a walk around Isola Bella, a private property until 1990.

We had a rather awkward pram verses steps descent down to the pebbly beaches which led to a narrow strip connecting the mainland beach to the Island of Isola Bella, 'Ìsula Bedda'. It was a little miserable not being able to walk along the waterfront due to the cafe's private beach strips.
A couple of reasons prevented Chris(a hard thing to do) and the boys from swimming. Firstly the very clear water was surprisingly freezing and secondly it was visibly full of jellyfish bobbing around. We picnic-ed on the small rocky beach which seemed surprising popular with sunbathers despite it not being very hot. 

Navigational difficulties: Pram vs steps to the beach.

Jellyfish everywhere, too visible in the crystal clear waters.

Back in Taormina's centre we enjoyed our first Aranci meal. Quite unlike the little balls of rice with cheese in the middle I had previously eaten, these where large pyramid like shaped rice parcels filled with all sorts of delicious tings, quite an art form, awards and all.

The next day, Laura called a favor from a friend to guide us around Mt Etna. Laura told us how Etna had erupted only a few days before our arrival, she and her guest had sat and watched it from the balcony.
We headed off in the morning to pickup Brigetta, a Swedish women who came to Sicily and fell in love with both Mt Etna and a man whom she had now married and lived in Naxos for 20 years with. As we loaded Brigetta into the car at Taormina's station car park, struggling to get the seatbelt to work, we spotted Laura zooming into the car park. She had come rushing after us, worried we were leaving without the pram that we might need . It was so comical as she jumped out of her car in the middle of 'Glam' Taormina in her PJs to dash a pram across the car park to us - so absolutely lovely, Sicilian hospitality again.
Brigetta was a fount of knowledge. We had great conversation on the trip to Etna, about 1:15hr. We stopped on the way to visit a very popular honey shop with generous tastings and store keepers who were surprised at the popularity of olives, pickled garlic and honey with our boys. We drove up and over streets made from Lava. We narrowly avoided a parked car that had rolled back into another in front of us - no handbrake on.
We arrived at the south side to see the two craters formed from the 'perfect' 2002 eruption. Jarvis and Chris took on the challenge of scaling up the steepest side of the crater.

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, it's first eruption taking place around 500,000 years ago. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe. More than 25% of Sicily's population live on Etna's slopes. It's rich volcanic soils provide income from agriculture as does it's tourism.
 In June 2013 it was added to the UNESCO world heritage list.
There was quite an exciting mythology associated with Etna, with which to try and entice the boys imagination. One legend was that 'Typhon', a 100 headed monster, was trapped by Zeus under the mountain. He has been spitting out flames ever since. The Greeks believed that 'Vulcan', the God of fire and metalwork had his workshop here. They also believed that the one-eyed Cyclops, 'Polyphemus', lived in a cave on it's slopes.

Jarvis conquering the crater!

The Buried House (2002 eruption).

Snowy North Side.

Exploring the tunnels formed from the lava flows.
Tunnel Entrance.

Inside the tunnels. Snow used to be stored here.

I'm not quite sure what possessed us to do pasta for an Italian family on our final night, probably the ingredients at hand in the supermarkets. Laura was very polite when she commented that it was 'nice' and different. When asked what type of pasta she normally cooked she responded "Pasta della Nonna", a typical Sicilian pasta dish with eggplant and tomato.

Laura, Giulia and 'Us' at Laura's home.

We ended the evening with Giulia and Jarvis playing the piano and Ollie on his electric guitar.
Laura's comment to Ollie remains memorable, she said it with her hand placed over her heart "You are a good boy, I can see it in your eyes, the window to your soul"

This time with Laura an Giulia  provided some wonderful memories of hospitality and generosity. We still correspond in broken English(I sadly cannot contribute in Italian), I hope we always will.

Lots of smiles.