November 10 - Taormina

 The views seem a little clearer today - but you can see the clouds coming off in the distance.  We have been promised fresh bread and croissants by the hotel manager - he just didn't say when they would arrive!  He had mentioned that he would be at the hotel by around 9am - so I am thinking that is when it will arrive.  I was right.  The tapping and banging on the elevator starts around 8 am.  It still isn't fixed.  

The bread was delicious - the croissants not as much.  They had a sweet almost citrussy flavor to them.  After breakfast we decide to walk around our area and then go to the entrance to the cable car which should take us to Taormina.  We get to the parking lot for the cable car - only a few cars.  Doors locked, signs on windows in Italian which we try to interpret.  It becomes clear that the cable car is not running - the season is over.

We walk back to our hotel and get in our car we are thinking of driving up to Taormina, but we have done no research on how to get there and where to park.  We sit in the car for a while figuring it out - the road looks very winding with switchbacks.  The other option is to wait for the shuttle that seems to be running hourly now.  We decide to drive.  

The road is winding and has switchbacks.  At times the road is completely off earth - I have no idea what or how the road is supported - and I try not to think about it.  It is not far - almost 9 minutes of driving and we are there.  But where to park?  We find a parking lot, but all the sports are lined in blue.  Previously blue lines meant it is for the handicap.  We go to another parking area - all of the lines are blue, clearly not all the spots in the parking garage are for the handicap.  Next problem - how do we pay.  We saw someone else go to the machine and pay - so we go next.  It is all in Italian.  I get out Google translate - but the words don't translate right.  Michael sees an options to change language.  We breathe a sigh of relief and figure it out.  

Next, we need to figure out how to get the covid test in able to get back into the US.  Michael has looked up the lab and has the address - It is an easy process and only costs 15E each - not hundreds of dollars as in the US and other countries.  

At last we can get into sight-seeing.  The city center is close - but all up steep hills.  We first come to a church that used to be a temple dedicated to Isis and Serapis.  It is dated to late 3rd century to early 2nd century BC.

Across the street from the church we see these heads.  There is a legend about these heads that seems to have taken a life of its own in Sicily.  We have seen them everywhere.

View back to the church.

We walk a little further away from the church and see these ruins.

We are heading for the gate that will lead us onto Corso Umberto I - the main shopping street.   As we get close it suddenly starts raining, first softly then very hard.  We take refuge under a store awning to wait it out along with many other people.  When the rain lightens we head off to find a restaurant to sit down and have a cup of  coffee/chocolate.  We find one across from the street below.  The sun comes out briefly and then we are back to grey.  But at least it is not raining.

Mask wearing is mixed here.  Everyone wears one to go inside a building, but outside some do and some don't.

We walk back o the gate where workmen are still putting up Christmas decorations.

We decide to head toward the Greek Theatre.

Men's hats - worn in Italy are called Coppola hats.

This is a scene from a hotel near the entrance to the Greek Theatre.

Just as we go to this point, Michael realized that one of his hearing aids were missing.  These are expensive so we started searching.  He had just taken off his mask - that is usually when the hearing aid gets caught in the straps and can fall off.  But it was not anywhere.  I thought - maybe it fell off when he put the mask on just before we got to the kiosk to buy the tickets.  And sure enough, it was just outside of the exit.  Michael went out and picked up and came back in.  People in the ticket office were watching us - I mimicked something falling off my ear - and that seemed to do the trick.  It helped that Michael was in the process of putting the hearing aid back on - so we were good.

We have been to a lot of Greek theatre's - but this one was all it was hyped up to be.

They still use the stage for performances.  But they have put in modern chairs for people to use.  They seemed to glare out that they didn't belong!

Views of the city of Taormina from the amphitheater.

And views way down to the coast.  My actual pictures did not look this good - too much haze.  Thank you photoshop.

The winds were picking up - would it rain again?  We decided to call it a day and go back to the parking garage.

A few more photos of the gate now that the workmen had finished putting up the decorations.

The two roads coming up past the church are both one way streets in the same direction.  One is for busses and taxi's and the other for cars.  All traffic exits on the right.

November 9 - Transfer Day

 After passing inspection in the apartment, and getting our 200 Euro security deposit back, we headed down the road on to Messina and Taormina.  Our Apple maps led us on some local roads right along the sea coast.  I think this is the first time the road has been so close to the coast.  It was beautiful.  

When we got close to the freeway - A20 - we drove under the piers (or piles) holding up the freeway - so high above us.  How were we going to get up there.  I wish I could have taken a picture of it.  The height was amazing.  Of course we eventually got up there.  From then on it was a series of long and short tunnels through the mountain, followed by brief glimpses of daylight before plunging into dimly lit tunnels again.  Frequently, you would go down from two lanes to one, supposedly for road work.  But we seldom saw anyone working.  We drove about 144 Kilometers on A20 before exiting.  

We are staying a few days in a hotel condominium - a cross between an apartment and a hotel.  We found the entrance just after we passed it.  Again, it is very small entrance with walls/gate on both sides. We make a U-turn and go in - but which building is it?  We pass a tiny parking area on the left, but see no sign for the hotel.  So we go up the very narrow steep road.  This is too strange, the road is no longer paved.  We find a slightly larger parking lot and turn around.  Going down the road looks even steeper!  At the bottom where we started, was an area of the first building that looked like it could be a lobby.  We had arrived.  As we check in, the manager tells us expansively - park anywhere you want - there is so much space as we don't have many guests now.  I would say you could fit maybe 4 US sized parking spots, but the entrance was way to narrow by US standards.  So you just drive on the sidewalk or whatever to get to a parking spot.

We have two bedrooms and two baths and a common kitchen living room area.  Once again we have a distant view of the sea.  The rest of our time here is predicted to be cool, rainy and grey.  But we need a few groceries and so head off down the road again.  But a working van has parked at the entrance and is blocking off a good part of the exit/entrance lane.  I got out and tried to guide Michael in getting the Volvo through the tiny area.  It was literally a couple of inches on either side - the wall and the workvan.  The next day the workvan was parked in a larger area!  By the way the workman is trying to fix the elevator which is right next to our front door.  

We found the supermarket the next town over in Naxos.  It is a  Super Deco - not sure how that compares with the Gourmet Deco we frequented in Cefalu', but it had everything we needed.  Michael is in the mood for a stew and since he likes to cook, I am all for it.  We also got enough soft cheese and other things to have a French picnic tonight.

I mentioned that we have two baths - that is true, however my bath is in my bedroom.  It is a glassed off area in one corner.  I have never and will never understand why anyone would think it is a fantastic idea to have your bathroom made of glass.  We have run into these before.  In fact there was early in our travels, that was at the head of the bed.  It was not even a full wall of glass to the ceiling - so every sound could be heard from the bedroom area.

View of bath and part of bed.

Michael's bedroom and hall bath.

Kitchen area and living room with view of deck.

The view off of our deck on a grey dismal day.