Taormina is one of the most beautiful villages on Sicily. No wonder it gained such popularity, it has a picturesque landscape as it's located on a top of a mountain offering a panoramic view on both the coastline and Etnea volcano. As most mediterrenian villages and cities it also offers a maze of narrow and colourful alleys. It is a top destination for any sicilian excursion.
I was the most positive about Taormina after getting of at Taormina-Giardini train station. The trick was, that the real city was nowehre to be seen, and initially my friend and I tried to walk along the road to reach it but after evaluating the map we discovered that the centre is about a 5km uphill on a public road with no pavement so... we dropped the idea of walking and took a bus from the station to Taormina.
The views from the window were splendid. I shot pictures from the window with my jaw dropped. I was driving along Italy before and perhaps shouldn't be as touched by the view, but sights like this get me every time.
My enthusiam kinda started to drop on Taormina's main road. Walking in a pilgrimage of tourists isn't really my thing. This was the first place in Sicily that I felt the presence of tourist commercialism, perhaps this is why I took it so bad. We also must have arrived there at a time with a few other tourist busses, so it all added up.
I do fairly admit that the side alleys were charming, like in colourful fairy-tale, but It was usually hard to take a picture because there was always somebody taking one already,
The main square was actually pretty unique. On its sides there were two old churches, and one edge was a viewing terrace for the sea and Etnea.
My mood boosted when we diverted to side alleys and roamed around the more residential cuaters. Suddenly the chatter was gone, so instantly, it was enough just to take one parallel street away.
The downside of our exploration off-the-beaten-track was that all of the restaurants were closed (because it was off-season). To have a meal we were forced to get down to the main street and pay quite a lot.
After dinner we walked up and up and up looking for some charming spots and we did find them eventually.
There was an ancient theatre in Taormina as well, but after Syracuse we weren't interested.
We arrived to the City Garden right in time for the golden hour. We missed the sunset, but got a few glimpses during the blue hour afterwards. Then we got back to Catania to enjoy our last evening on Italy's most famous island.
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