From Taormina to Palermo we go

Friday, 1 July

It's becoming a trend that we are always 2 hours behind schedule. Anders turned off the alarm when it went off, and by the time we woke up to check it, it was ten to 8 (our scheduled breakfast time). Ms. Elen set up a fantastic breakfast again. We had eggs, mozzarella, tomatoes, bread, yogurt and coffee with the fantastic view one last time. Ahhhh, not sure when we can get that experience again. It was absolutely lovely.

We left the b&b at 10ish to go to the Teatro Greco. It's one of the unmissable sights in Sicily. We decided to drive there, in hope of finding a parking spot. Driving around Taormina is just insane. Cars coming everywhere and scooters think they can just drive anywhere, including the opposite side of the road toward you. Anders got into a few annoying traffic incidents, and the frustration of finding parking led him to say "why don't you just go in and take pictures?" I got a bit upset that he didn't want to see one of the main highlights of Sicily. Nevertheless, we eventually found parking for €3 an hour.

We quickly went to the Teatro Greco after stopping at a place to get a small soda for €2.50! Anders is consistently over paying for things.

Teatro Greco was amazing. It would be really cool to see a concert there. The theater has a panoramic view of Taormina and the coastline. The stage still has the ruins from the Roman time period. Absolutely stunning. Anders was really glad he went. We finished the touring and pictures in 30 minutes and quickly walked our way to the car.

Next stop - the Alcantara Gorge, which was created by a flow of lava from Mt. Etna. We were debating whether or not to pay to take the lift to the gorge or take the free entrance down 200 steps. Anders was a bit hot and tired, so he opted to pay. I wanted to take the free entrance, but in retrospect, glad we paid. With the entrance fee we were able to walk on top of the gorge for some lovely view points. We then took the lift down to the beach (aka gorge). Too bad we were doing the drive to Palermo that day, otherwise we would of taken a dip in the water. We did wash our hands in it though.

This is where the long journey to Palermo began. We read SS185 from Giardini-Naxos to the Tyrrhenian coast was supposed to be one of the best drives in Sicily. So off we went. The drive was extremely curvy up the mountains. The landscape was gorgeous, but there were no lookout points to take pictures. So all we have is our memories to keep. Anders, as expected, somehow got us off the road in a 20min detour from SS185. That's ok, we were in it for the drive anyways.

There was only one town on SS185, Novara di Sicilia. We were soooo hungry by the time we got there. I read on Rough Guide that La Pineta was a good place to try the local ricotta and deep fried crepelle. We had to drive through the town and back before we located it, and that was by chance. The town was like a ghost town with many abandoned houses, but at the same time it looked like it was being rebuilt. Very strange place. A bit upset now that we didn't take any pictures. Anyhow, we just parked somewhere randomly and when I turned the corner I saw the restaurant. It was really bizarre because it looked abandoned from the outside, but when I went in I heard a bunch of chattering Italians. We got escorted to this crazy bright room painted yellow and orange. Locals were just eating lunch and chatting. The waitress didn't speak English so I needed to use the guidebook to show her what we wanted. Of course Anders left it in the car, so he went to pick it up. The locals also tried to assist us a bit with ordering. All in all the experience was memorable, being it's so local and bizarre. The food was so fried Anders and I did not have a good ride through the curvy roads again. We both felt really sick on the rest of the drive. We can't believe people lived in that town. It takes 30-40 mins to the next city and the drive is also through that crazy road. I wonder how a young girl like the waitress will ever get out of a place like that.

About 40 mins after the restaurant, we reached the highway straight to Palermo. That drive was 2 hours. Palermo is a normal city. Lots of noise, cars and people everywhere. We were thankful the gps was able to locate its way to the hotel. Parking was not easy to find either. We parked in a spot that we thought was free, but later on realized it was pay per hour parking. Thus we dropped off our bags and went on a hunt for a parking spot. It's so strange here. People seem to just park anywhere and everywhere, regardless of whether it is legal or not. It was a bit frustrating when we finally found a spot in the distance, and then saw a lady pulled into it. Damit! A while after we found one where two old men sat on the street telling us to pull in. With lots of uncertainty, we did. We tried to ask if it would be ok to stand there for a day or two, but they barely spoke English. Eventually I saw a well dressed business man to ask, and he said the spot was fine. He also suggested us to give those poor men a few euros to watch our car. What does a few euros mean? We gave the man €3 and asked him kindly to look after our car. We just paid a man a protection fee for our car!

On our way back to the hotel we picked up some street food because we were soooo hungry. We got this fried rice ball stuffed with minced meat and peas. It was really good for €1.50.

The Falkensteiner hotel was very nice. Anders said it was his dream apartment style. Very neat with brown, black and tan colors. It was extremely clean and way more than a four star hotel. Definitely worth more than the €70 a night we paid. We also found out we were extremely central. Great find thanks to trip advisor!

We rested a bit in the hotel before heading into town for dinner and drinks. We ate at a place nearby that was pretty good and very cheap. It was called Fero si Cavallo and had tables outside on the sidewalk. Lots of locals there chatting away at 10pm. Around midnight we finished up and went searching for the American Bar with a roof top terrace. We looked for it for a while, but later discovered the hotel it was in was under renovation. At that point Anders was getting tired, so he suggested to call it a night instead of partying it up. As we approached our hotel, a side street around the corner was filled with people. I convinced Anders that we should check it out. The street was really cool, with people hanging everywhere and bar after bar. We got some strong cocktails for €5. It was definitely a bargain and tons of fun. We called it a night when a waitress cleaned up our unfinished drinks. We took that as a hint that we should go to bed.