Sicily - Taormina and Messina

Land of Don Vito Corleone, olive oil, Mount Etna, and brilliant sunshine.  Yep, it was another gorgeous day.  We didn't get into Messina (the major port just across from the toe tip of the Italian boot) until about 1pm, so it was kind of nice to have a relaxing morning.  Our tour for the day was "Taormina On Your Own."  Taormina is a mountain town about an hour out of the port.

As we drove up the mountain, we learned that Francis Ford Coppola did not set The Godfather in Coreleone, Sicily, but in two of the little towns we passed on the way to Taormina.  And the beautiful scenery bore witness to Coppola's perfect choice for the Godfather movies.  It sucks that the internet won't play nicely enough for me to upload any of the pictures Joe took.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

The land is dotted with scrub, low silver and green olive trees, terraces of wine vineyards, rocky outcrops, and beyond, the blue Ionian Sea.  You can almost hear the Godfather theme playing in the background.

Taormina is a small town with a central lane.  All along the lane are shops and restaurants, and the bisecting cross streets give you a peek at beflowered balconies and cool terraces...and you can see the sea in the distance.

We shopped hard here - ceramics, limoncello, and sunglasses - BAM.

After my Marriott Visa exploded, we stopped for a drink.  Sitting on a lovely patio in the warm sun, I took a picture of the church across the street...

and noticed...

Mount Etna, everyone.  She was a bit shy, her top covered in clouds, but you can see the lava courses - they look like ski runs - trailing down the right side.  It erupted a couple of weeks ago, and is still spewing stuff...but you can't see it.  I'm more than a little okay with that to tell the truth.

Our nice bus took us back down to Messina, and Joe and I wandered around a bit before we had to board the ship.  We found the main cathedral and its beautiful square and campanile.

All the statuary and clockworks are gold.  Amazing.

And like most of the places Rome occupied in the past, there are ruins right in the middle of intersections.  The arches along the back of these look like they may have been windows.  Who knows?

Tomorrow - Malta!