Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - Taormina

The kids were all duds and wanted to stay on the ship.  One nice thing about this cruise was that they had a Kids' Club where we could drop the younger kids off to play if they didn't want to join us on an excursion.  They had different activities and games for the kids, so we didn't feel too guilty leaving them there while we went off to see the beautiful places.

So, Brad and I spent a romantic day together in Taormina, Italy.  Taormina is an old resort town in the mountains of Sicily, and it was really beautiful.  You know how you picture Italy to be a quaint, charming town with narrow streets and wrought-iron balconies dripping with flowers?  Well, that was Taormina.

 

 

 

 This church was built in the 1200's.

 

And I think this one is from the 1400's.

There is an old monastery on the top of the mountain behind the church.

In Taormina, they have a Greek and Roman Theater, so called because it was obviously started by the Greeks and finished by the Romans.  We learned that the Greeks used materials found locally for building, and the rocks near the foundation and lower levels of this old theater are all local rock.  But above that are Roman arches and bricks imported from other areas of the Roman empire, so clearly the Romans had a hand in building this later.

 

 

 

 The views from the theater were amazing.

That is Mt. Etna just to the right of Brad's head.

 After the guided tour was over, we had some free time to wander around Taormina.

 

 

 

Outside a little antique shop, Brad found this bomb sight from World War II.  

 

This half-woman-half-boar is the symbol of Taormina.  I don't really get it.

The old city gate of Taormina.

After we left Taormina, the bus drove us around the city of Catania, so we got to admire some sites from the comfort of our padded bus seats.  I believe Brad dozed through this part.

Excavation of a Roman amphitheater in the center of Catania.

Some church.  The concave front makes it significant for some reason, but I can't remember why.

Window detail from the palace that makes up part of the city wall of Catania.  So amazing!

After our time in Taormina and Catania, we returned to the ship and collected the kids.  It was a lovely, sunny day so we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and napping on the deck.  

You can see that things got a little silly at dinner:

This night had the best show after dinner.  They had a couple of singers and an amazing troupe of dancers.  Jessica leaned over to me about half-way through the show and whispered, "I never want this to end!" 

All in all, it was a lovely, lovely day.