| Palermo | Florence | Sorrento | Venice | |
Taormina and Siracusa September 8, 2004
| We stopped on the way to Taormina at a villa out in the middle
of nowhere (Casale, Sicily). Nobody knows why it's there, but it's
hypothesized that a merchant used it as a second home. Since it's
enormous, he must have been very rich. Like many of these places,
there's no roof, but they've built plastic roofs to protect the tiles on the
floor. In spite of that effort, after we left they had a drenching
rainstorm, and 400 tiles were damaged. This photo looks like this is a wall, but it's not, it's a floor, just rotated so the people look right side up. |
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Taormina is a beautiful area to stay in. It also is a tourist mecca, so there are millions of people most everywhere. This panorama shows most of the city, and the background is Mount Etna (which was smoking, but not visibly in this photo).
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Up on the hills above Taormina (which itself is built on a hill, is a Greek theatre which was converted to a Roman theatre which has been converted into a modern concert stage. Behind the stage is Mount Etna. Our guide commented that she was once at a performance when Mt. Etna was erupting, and the fireworks in the background were very distracting from the performance (which was very good, she thought, but couldn't remember very well). |
| After spending the morning at Taormina, we got in the bus for the optional tour to Siracusa. This is a very old village, dating back to the 1600s BC, but the earliest recorded history is the Greek invasion in about 800 BC. Among other things, what the Greeks liked was the excellent limestone/marble in the area, and there's an immense quarry still there (but it photographs like a hole in the ground, so I didn't get anything worth sharing). Nearby they had a full village, complete with theatre for 15,000 people. What's interesting is that they carved the seats out of existing rock (see right). |  |
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Modern Siracusa was almost as interesting. Our guide took us to the cathedral downtown (see right) which has been built and modified over the years. It originally was a Greek temple (see the pillars), then updated to a Roman temple, then Byzantine, then Christian. The earliest piece was installed in 800 BC, the most recent (the front ceiling) was 1956, so a living 2700 year old church! The front facade was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1692, so the front is very baroque, but inside merges all the styles from all the eras. |
| The more modern (i.e., 16th century) pieces were simply gorgeous. This is "just" a side chapel. They were getting ready for a wedding, so our ability to wander was restricted, but it gives you an idea of how ornate the place was. |  |
| Palermo | Florence | Sorrento | Venice |
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