We had quite a busy day today. We started off at the Greek Theater, or Teatro Greco, which you might have seen in some of the pictures from yesterday. The Greeks built this theater in the 3rd century BC. The Romans built over the theater, and then later on in the 12th century, someone built their house on the same site. Time has swept away many of the alternations other have made to the site, and we are now left with things almost as the Greeks had intended. Its actually still used as a theater to this day (Elton John is going to be here tomorrow night, but at 69 euros a ticket its a bit out of our price range). One of the best features of the theater is the view of Mt. Etna, which was actually visible today.
After leaving the theater, we took a walk through the main street of Taormina (as we did yesterday), but today we enjoyed blue skies and perfect weather. Then we walked down to the bus station to catch a bus to the Gola dell'Alcantra. It was a beautiful bus ride - surprisingly, it was somewhat reminiscent of Tuscany - rolling hills, vineyards, farms, etc.
Finally we arrived at the gola, or gorge. The Gola dell'Alcantara is a series of weirdly shaped rock formations created when lava flow hit the water and caused the rock to form prism shapes which are really cool. The water here is also really cool - rather, very cold. We rented some waders and joined a group for a short hike through the river.
The water (up to our waists at some points) was moving really fast and it was difficult to walk - so much that the gorge is closed during the winter months when it is very unsafe due to the water levels.
Of course, 10 minutes after we started our hike it started to pour. This changed the course of our hike a little and we spent more time out of the water than in it - but it was still a great experience. Pretty much as soon as our tour was over, the rain stopped. This gave us a chance to take a short hike on a path adjacent to the gorge that had some great views. On the way back to Taormina, we got off the bus in the adjacent town of Giardini-Naxos. This town is at the bottom of the hill from Taormina, and therefore has easy beach access. Since we arrived after the main attraction had closed (ruins from the first Greek settlement in Sicily), we instead walked along the nice promenade and the first sandy beach we've found during our trip. Then we walked back to the train station to catch the bus back to our apartment for dinner. Another great day!
Gelato Gusti per il giorno:
Mike - Stracciatella e Cioccalato Bianco and Mandorla e Panna Cotta
Aviva - Menta e Busso cioccolato
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