Honeymoon Sicily | Taormina
As you travel along the motorway or the small rugged coast road
towards Taormina Mount Etna with its snowy top smouldering away continuously reveals
itself as Europe’s highest volcano while one the most beautiful towns in Sicily with
its buildings engraved into the side of a small mountain awaits you.
If it is your first visit to Taormina you will be mesmerised by its rural beauty
and the winding road that leads you to the centre of this ancient
Greek Roman town. Even if you arrive
in the midday heat the atmosphere and simplicity of a town that throbs with energy manages to relieve
you with a certain calmness.
Goethe summed up this magical island perfectly by declaring "To have seen Italy
without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything"
As you wander along Corso Umberto (the main pedestrian street) of medieval Taormina walking from one ancient archway
Porto Catania to another ancient archway Porto Messina its then you realise you have entered a world and a place of
something special something magical.
Taking advantage of its pedestrian only status people from all over the world come to walk it, come to talk, come to watch
and most importantly come to be seen. Mingling with the rich and famous is not compulsory but can be sometimes unavoidable,
having a beer or two with Rod Stewart or Al Pacino is not a myth – It’s just the Sicilian way of life.
Glamorous travellers kitted out to impress with everlasting perfumes that fill the warm night
air often meet at the Piazza Aprile IX
where newlyweds mingle and pose for all to enjoy while musicians serenade on the steps of
Sant’ Augostino, a small gothic church built
in 1448.
Piazza Aprile IX is where Tennessee Williams wrote over coffee and Elizabeth Taylor
anticipated the arrival of Richard Burton...It’s here where most of us
just take in the splendour of
Mount Etna and the beach resort of Giardini-Naxos from Taormina’s
stunning grand terrazzo.
Piazza Duomo
attracts a different crowd. They sit around the piazza's
Baroque Fountain
talking passionately and relentlessly, only pausing to take a photo or strike a youthful pose. The impressive
Church of San Nicola dominates the square and once again a great choice of restaurants and bars within
the vicinity are offered.
Corso Umberto is the town’s heart, it beats relentlessly. The chic and often expensive boutiques that line the street gesture
you to part with hundreds of your hard earned euros. Like veins, small alleys leave the Corso downwards and upwards, each
presenting a copiousness amount of choice and diversity of eateries, stylish bars and cafes.
As you reach the end of the Corso Umberto at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, to the right of the piazza is Via Teatro Greco with
its abundance of souvenir shops and Sicilian crafts. Walk this short boulevard and the gem that is the
Greco Romana Theatre awaits you.
Be prepared to be astonished by its greatness and its views of the sprawling
Ionian coastline
The theatre is best visited
when the sun is at its lowest as it can be stifling in the midday sun. Or treat yourself to one of the many concerts held
in the amphitheatre in the cooler evenings. But no matter what way you intend to spend your evenings, you will never tire
of your passages along Corso Umberto.