May 8, 2026
The next stop on the cruise was Messina and we took a trip to Taormina near Mt. Etna. On our way to Taormina, our bus broke down and we waited for another one which required a bit of fancy maneuvering on the narrow roads when another bus needed to get past us.
When we arrived in Taorimina we walked quite a distance upwards from the parking area to arrive at Piazza IX Aprile. It was like a balcony overlooking the sea which normally has great views of Mt. Etna on a clear day. It was fairly early in the morning when we arrived, and the day was a bit hazy and cloudy so we could barely see Mt.Etna outlined in the mist, but in a way it was lovely to see it like that. Although it never cleared up enough to see it more clearly, we had a lovely day of walking the streets of Taormina and popping in and out of the souvenir shops.
The town of Toarmina was beautiful but required quite a bit of climbing. There were many side streets that were basically staircases and had restaurant cafes arranged along stairs. Needless to say there were no vehicles in almost all of the town except some of the main streets lower in the town. We wanted to enter the Teatro Antico, but when we arrived it was quite a lineup to get inside and we decided to get a gelato and enjoy the views instead.
We viewed the outside of Duomo di Taormina and the fountain in Piazza Duomo
We also toured around Villa Comunale Gardens which my daughter especially liked. We got a bit turned around trying to get back to the parking area but we eventually found our way and had , on the whole, a wonderful day in Taormina.
That evening my daughter and I attended a comedy show, had a couple of cocktails and ended another wonderful day on our Mediterranean cruise.