Gym's Ramblings: Sizing up Sicily

On the November 5th, we landed in Messina, Sicily. We didn't have time to conquer the city because we had a lot of ground to cover that day. However, Messina has been conquered many times before and I think with a little planning and some drills on our sea day, we could have taken it. That is, as long as the less mobile passengers agreed to disembark last so that they didn't gum up the landing.

We had an ambitious and protracted agenda that day, it would be a dawn-to-dusk adventure. We were to drive down the east coast of Sicily to Taormina, to check out that little gem and then travel further south and up on to Mount Etna, to do some volcano touring. In between we would stop in Zafferana for lunch which was a highlight unto itself. So, let me break the day up into three parts, as follows:

1. Taormina

The reason General Montgomery had such a tough time making his way up the east coast of Sicily during WW2 was due to the miserable topography on that side of the island. There is no flat land to race your tanks across and only recently have modern highways, with extensive tunnels, provided the means to travel south out of Messina and make reasonable progress (of course Monty was going in the opposite direction). It took about 90 minutes for us to get off the ship, through Messina and to the parking lot below Taormina.

Taormina has history that goes back well before WW2, right back to antiquity. It was built high up above the beach in a most defensible position. The town sits 200 meters above the Ionian Sea, on the spine of a high promontory, that rises steeply from the beach and stretches all the way up to Mount Tauro. On a clear day in Taormina, you can see the mountains on the Italian mainland to the north and Mount Etna, the tallest mountain on Sicily, to the south. It was here that the Greeks founded Taormina in 392 B.C. Later, the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, French and Spanish would all try to govern the area and then Gym arrived in 2017 and settled things down.

The main attraction in Taormina is the open-air theatre, Teatro Antico di Taormina. It was built by the greeks and renovated by the romans. This venue, still a popular concert location, is a short stroll down to the end of Via Teatro Greco, off of Corso Umberto, near Porto Messina. Gym and Mrs. Gym climbed all over the theatre and wondered what it would be like to listen to a live concert there. Our guide Beatrice had been to see Tony Bennett there and said it was wonderful given the fantastic acoustics.

The other major attraction is the abundance of well-preserved medieval buildings, separated by a very narrow stone street, that have stood the test of time along Corso Umberto, between the two city gates of Porto Messina and Porto Catania. It is fun to stroll down this street which is Taormina's main drag. The street is pretty level, following a contour of the promontory and you can hike from one end to the other in under an hour, if you don't get drawn into too many of the shops, restaurants or bars that are there. At either end you have fantastic views of the sea and the surrounding countryside.

Looking up the promontory from old Taormina towards Mount Tauro

Porto Messina

Via Teatro Greco

The entrance to Teatro Antico di Taormina

Greco-Roman ruins at the Teatro Antico di Taormina

Lush gardens on the escapement below Taormina

Looking south from Taormina

Looking north from Taormina

Looking down from the cheap seats to the stage at Teatro Antico di Taormina

Corso Umberto is the place to be seen. Only one kilometres in length
but a very worthwhile stroll that one would never tire of.

Corso Umbert follows a contour so to the east you must go down
towards the sea. Each alleyway running in that direction is a
steep set of stone stairs between the buildings off which
may be the entrances to cool little shops and bars.

View to the south entering Piazza IX Aprile

San Guisseppe taken from Piazza IX Aprile

a view looking south from Piazza IX Aprile, near Porto Syracuse

2. At the base of Mt. Eatna

After leaving Taormina we would head south towards Mt. Etna and stop in Zafferana. This is an interesting place lying right below Europe's largest active volcano, where volcanic ash can ruin your planned picnic, just as easily as a rainstorm. Etna is continually and actively spewing lava from the summit or a flank crater all the time. Since 1955, there have been 49 eruptions. On March 16th, 2017, 10 people were injured including a BBC film crew when magma exploded as it came into contact with snow.

This is a classical example of a place that's "nice to visit but you wouldn't want to live there". However, Zafferana is a popular resort in spite of being situated on the side of Mt. Etna. Being at an elevation of 500 meters above sea level, Sicilians can escape the oppressive Sicilian heat in the summer by staying in Zafferana. And in the winter, the town is a base for alpine skiers that ski at one of two resorts on the mountain.

The other major attraction of this area is the food. The climate and the volcanic soil combine to produce very tasty local produce. The name of the town is derived from the spice, Saffron. Saffron crocuses used to be widely cultivated nearby. Due to the fantastic local ingredients and the abundance of tourists, there are many fine restaurants in and around town. We stopped at one such establishment, Trattoria Ardichetto, for a lunch that featured local olive oil, hand-made pasta and wine from nearby vineyards. Gym sampled two pasta dishes that were unparalleled in his life-time. Flashbacks to that meal continue to haunt the author. Gym highly recommends this place.

Trattoria Ardichetto

Hand made Strozzapreti

3. The Volcano

We resumed our exploration of the mountain on full stomachs. Rising up out of Zafferana on Via Casone's switchbacks was pretty cool, if one is not prone to motion sickness. Mercifully, Mrs. Gym was able to avoid any incidents by employing the old adage of "mind over matter". She occupied herself trying to find the perfect shot of the summit through the bus window as we drove up through a forested area that was interrupted by a recent lava flow.

Etna is 11,000 feet high and we would not make it to the summit on this trip. We would however get up to a parking lot not far from the Hotel Corsaro. From there we were able to scramble up a side vent of the main volcano. On the summit Gym and Mrs. Gym stood at about 7000 feet above sea level and scooped up a couple of rocks coloured red by the predominance of iron oxide in the volcanic material. To get to the summit of the main cinder cone, we needed another day to travel up the remaining 4000 vertical feet on a combination of cable car, 4 x 4 vehicle and foot. Unfortunately, we had a boat waiting for us in Messina.

It was dark when we left the dock in Messina and as we ate dinner we rounded the toe of the boot of Italy, on a northerly heading.