Naxos, Taormina, and Etna
It’s been quite a while in between updates! Sorry! A lot has happened in the past week. I went on a boat ride into the Siracusan harbor, I visited Taormina, and I climbed Mt. Etna (on my 20th birthday, no less.)
The boat tour in the harbor off Ortigia was fun—at first. The water was clear and dark blue, and there were lots of small boats around us. We got to stand on the second level of our own boat. The city looked really different from a distance. The Duomo rose above all the other buildings, save for the Jesuit Church. The Jesuit Church looks a lot smaller up close, but as you can see from the picture, it is clearly larger. The other shore of the harbor looked similar, except a lot greener.
Soon, the boat began to rock as we neared the mouth of the harbor. The waves became rough, and I had to hold onto the silver railings to keep upright. It was at that point that I began to feel ill, and the ride ceased being fun. Oh well, I took some nice shots.
On July 14, we visited Naxos, the first Greek colony on Sicily. It was a very short stop, but we got to visit the archeological ruins of the holy section of the ancient city. It wasn’t much to look at, as most of the ruins were still below ground. However, we got to look at the outline of what is presumably the Temple of Apollo, the furnaces the temples used to make small clay idols, and the sacrificial altar.
Next, we went to Taormina. Taormina literally means “bull mountain,” and it supposedly here where Odysseus encountered the Cattle of the Sun God, Hyperion. It was really small but absolutely clogged with tourists. I think it originated on the Grand Tour of Europe. Many famous artists and writers visited Taormina, and it quickly became famous for being famous.
The town was pretty, and it had the second largest Greek-Roman Theatre in Sicily. It also afforded some awesome views of the sea and of Mt. Etna, but I wasn’t too fond of it. After Siracusa, it was weird to be surrounded by so many people who spoke English. Every single store was directed at tourists, and they were even open during siesta and on Sundays, which also was really weird.
We visited the Greek Theatre, got lunch at this one pizzeria (I got really good four cheese pasta), and then we wandered a bit. I bought myself a coral necklace for my birthday. I then had the option of either visiting the Victorian gardens or hiking up a mountain towards an Arab fort. Normally, I would have done both, but the tourists were so freaking annoying, I just decided to go to the beach.
We had to take a sky tram down to the beaches at Mazzaro. Although most were private, I think we managed to sneak into a few. We tried to go swimming at a beach called Isole Bella (the Beautiful Island), but the water was absolutely clogged with stinging jellyfish. It was quite disappointing, as we tried to get out to island and didn’t make it. We walked to another beach that was relatively free of jellyfish, I laid my towel over the rocks (because the beaches didn’t have any sand but lots of rocks instead), laid down and promptly fell of asleep. It’s a little sad to say that the rocks were much more comfortable than my bed here.
The next day, we went to Mt. Etna and then to Taormina again. Mt. Etna was so much fun! I’m really glad I decided to go. We got to hike around several small peaks, a crater, and a caldera. The hike around the crater was easy, but the hike up the first peak was painful. It was so steep, I could feel my calves burning. However, at the top, we could see so much of Sicily. We could see Taormina and even Ortigia from the top. It was really pretty to see all the vegetation that grew there and all the insects. I even brought a rock back with me. There was a group of nuns heading up the mountain. It was really sad to see them go faster than us in their habits and sandals. Oh well. We still had so much fun taking stupid pictures of each other.
Taormina wasn’t anything special. I ate a panino, but that was pretty much all I did there. Like I said, I’m not a huge fan of Taormina.
The boat tour in the harbor off Ortigia was fun—at first. The water was clear and dark blue, and there were lots of small boats around us. We got to stand on the second level of our own boat. The city looked really different from a distance. The Duomo rose above all the other buildings, save for the Jesuit Church. The Jesuit Church looks a lot smaller up close, but as you can see from the picture, it is clearly larger. The other shore of the harbor looked similar, except a lot greener.
Soon, the boat began to rock as we neared the mouth of the harbor. The waves became rough, and I had to hold onto the silver railings to keep upright. It was at that point that I began to feel ill, and the ride ceased being fun. Oh well, I took some nice shots.
On July 14, we visited Naxos, the first Greek colony on Sicily. It was a very short stop, but we got to visit the archeological ruins of the holy section of the ancient city. It wasn’t much to look at, as most of the ruins were still below ground. However, we got to look at the outline of what is presumably the Temple of Apollo, the furnaces the temples used to make small clay idols, and the sacrificial altar.
Next, we went to Taormina. Taormina literally means “bull mountain,” and it supposedly here where Odysseus encountered the Cattle of the Sun God, Hyperion. It was really small but absolutely clogged with tourists. I think it originated on the Grand Tour of Europe. Many famous artists and writers visited Taormina, and it quickly became famous for being famous.
The town was pretty, and it had the second largest Greek-Roman Theatre in Sicily. It also afforded some awesome views of the sea and of Mt. Etna, but I wasn’t too fond of it. After Siracusa, it was weird to be surrounded by so many people who spoke English. Every single store was directed at tourists, and they were even open during siesta and on Sundays, which also was really weird.
We visited the Greek Theatre, got lunch at this one pizzeria (I got really good four cheese pasta), and then we wandered a bit. I bought myself a coral necklace for my birthday. I then had the option of either visiting the Victorian gardens or hiking up a mountain towards an Arab fort. Normally, I would have done both, but the tourists were so freaking annoying, I just decided to go to the beach.
We had to take a sky tram down to the beaches at Mazzaro. Although most were private, I think we managed to sneak into a few. We tried to go swimming at a beach called Isole Bella (the Beautiful Island), but the water was absolutely clogged with stinging jellyfish. It was quite disappointing, as we tried to get out to island and didn’t make it. We walked to another beach that was relatively free of jellyfish, I laid my towel over the rocks (because the beaches didn’t have any sand but lots of rocks instead), laid down and promptly fell of asleep. It’s a little sad to say that the rocks were much more comfortable than my bed here.
The next day, we went to Mt. Etna and then to Taormina again. Mt. Etna was so much fun! I’m really glad I decided to go. We got to hike around several small peaks, a crater, and a caldera. The hike around the crater was easy, but the hike up the first peak was painful. It was so steep, I could feel my calves burning. However, at the top, we could see so much of Sicily. We could see Taormina and even Ortigia from the top. It was really pretty to see all the vegetation that grew there and all the insects. I even brought a rock back with me. There was a group of nuns heading up the mountain. It was really sad to see them go faster than us in their habits and sandals. Oh well. We still had so much fun taking stupid pictures of each other.
Taormina wasn’t anything special. I ate a panino, but that was pretty much all I did there. Like I said, I’m not a huge fan of Taormina.
posted by Chelsea at
6:59 PM
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