PICS:
Taormina Coastline
Taormina Church ~ Notice the Cross on the hill
Horse Fountain after we exited the tourbus and entered Taormina....
Cyclops Restaurant....Interesting, I thought, as in Greek Mythology there were cyclops who came to Sicily.....and lived there.....that's why I took this pic.
October 18th, 2006
1212AM
What a great day it was in Taormina today....just enough time to get some shopping, cafe~ing and sight seeing done.....We arrived in Sicily this am, and I was off the boat on an excursion up to Taormina...which was named because the Greek’s (who had first settled here) saw the two plains of hills that resembled the Taurus (bull)’s horns and the mina was island (?)....
Taormina towers high up on the hill and there are incredible views of the water from pretty much everywhere you go there. It’s tiny streets and curvy too, with tall storefronts and lots of fashionable shopping, I noticed some name brands here, like Diesel, Prada, etc.
I did buy my first real pair of Prada sunglasses while in Taormina. Also, got my neighbor a little fishie that was handmade to add to her collection....picked up a few Sicily tshirts for the gym or wherever and something else, but can’t remember right now.
I had been concerned that we wouldn’t have good weather....and as the day went on, the sky just got more fabulous! It was sunny, blue and white. Also, found out from our tour guide, on the bus, that Taormina and Sicily prefer Green, Yellow and Blue for the Trees, Sun and Water....I LOVED THAT!! That may become my new colors in work stuff, whenever I can incorporate them in.
I enjoyed Taormina’s Secret Wine wine at the Orange Cafe and a Calzoni. Met two gals, who are sisters, from Albany, NY...go figure, one used to live in the condo’s that look "Cape Cod" Style, above 16th, off Mountain, yes, in Upland!! Small world, even in Taormina...LOL
Anyway, hung out with them a bit for a coffee after lunch and visited a church, I believe it was St. Katherine’s for a bit of quiet time praying...
The trip back, I kinda nodded off a bit and then took my first picture of the Carnival Liberty from shore, before getting back on....it’s such a huge boat!!!
Once onboard, I tried to take a nap, and it didn’t work, so took an "airborne" in case I was catching something, felt off all day, then went to dinner and tried to eat extra healthy.
Spent the majority of the night in my cabin writing a few postcards, listening to music and straightening things out/getting organized, etc. Planning on working out tomorrow and maybe going out into the sun later in the day, or maybe first thing, then sleeping in the afternoon, I’ll play it as it comes.
I’m wondering how the weather is in CA? We’ve been extremely fortunate to have pretty much perfect weather the whole trip and it’s October in the Mediterranean, which usually means a bit of rain. Actually, it did rain in Taormina this am, before we made it up there....probably one of the reasons, the day just got more gorgeous as time went by......
There were Grecian ruins up there also, that i kinda peeked at, just didn’t feel like going through and looking at something that looked like the Colisseum in Rome, although I would have loved to.
The people were all very nice and passionate, as you’d expect from Italians. Overall, it was a really nice day.
I’m a bit more homesick as the days go by.....I can’t even believe myself!! I hope to enjoy the rest of the trip, as I know vaca’s go quickly and soon, I’ll be wishing I was on vaca again...
Well, good morning, or good night, Amigos (as).....
