Palazzo Ciampoli

Good morning Taormina and we can see Etna erupting from our lovely Airbnb room! We waited for Janet & Sinclair and then started our long trek for today! We walked down many steps – quite easily but we knew what that meant for later! We arrived at the archaeological amphitheater of Greek origin. It is a great ruin and is still used for shows. Apparently, my lovely nephew Mirko has played his trumpet here several times which would be inspiring. We had a good look around and after that needed refreshments and went to the recommended Bam Bar for a coffee and strawberry and raspberry granitas which were very popular with the tourists, and you had to wait to get a table. Next, we walked and walked around lovely Taormina. As time passed it became rather busy and today was certainly our warmest day so far – tee shirts and hats. We had a good look at the hotel which was used for the White Lotus. It is San Domenic da Guzman Piazza – which coincidentally is the patron saint of my old school – St Dom’s North Adelaide. It did look ritzy, but we were only allowed in the courtyard. Next, we walked to find the Botanical Gardens which had nice topiary, weird/quirky building structures, lovely cool areas, beautiful views of the Mediterranean, and plants!!

The next trek was to lunch which was at the Malvasia Ristorante – good - probably about 8/10 but truly needed. We did sneak in a gelati - cassata flavour was pretty good. On to the supermarket for munchy food supplies and after that the ridiculously challenging climb back up to the top! Needless to say, we are all very tired.Read more