With only two full days in Pedara we used up the second day with the almost obligatory Taormina visit. In BC times the Greeks from Syracuse, which we visited just the other day, decided that a particular coastal headland was so spectacular that they'd have to make a tourist resort there. This project was centred on a large open air theatre with arguably one of the most amazing backdrops possible on the planet. Predictably, though, with the passage of time, those pesky Romans came along and decided to upgrade the theatre, using their own bricks, common wherever the Romans built or rebuilt.
As previously mentioned, our plan was to drive to the beach at the base of the precipitous feature on which the theatre and tourist village are built, and there park the car and ride the cable car to the top. This all worked perfectly, although there were predictable uncertainties about the parking, where the cable car tickets should be bought, and when the cable car would be running. It's a bit like being gun-shy. Deal with Italian systems, and you're always ready to grope for alternatives as things are not likely to go exactly as you may presume they will. But in this case they did, although there was some confusion over where and how to pay for the car parking.
This pic, taken at the theatre, shows the town of Taormina in the background, below the theatre but high above the adjacent coast.
Much of the ancient base of the theatre was today obscured by plastic seating and a wooden stage, installed for modern theatre goers to enjoy staged entertainment, but spoiling the effect for day visitors. The only thing that the theatre has going for it is the magnificent setting, but industrial haze mostly obscured the distant peak of Mount Etna, just visible if you knew where to look.
Looking to the north. Very hazy, probably as a result of the heavy industries, such as oil refineries, operating in the vicinity, and exacerbated by the lack of a breeze.
The Roman bricks were used by the Romans to fill in the spaces between the pillars erected by the Greeks.
From the theatre, we found our way to the delightful modern Public Garden, situated lower on the southern face of the peak which contains the town.
Guess what. We encountered a gift shop or two on the way out. Mary closely examined the offerings.
The garden is well worth a visit and there's no entry fee.
We ate our cut lunch in one of those brick and terracotta structures in the garden and then headed back for the main part of town where Mary spent another 30 minutes or so wandering around while I sat in the shade in the piazza and watched the hordes of tourists working their way up toward the main attraction. In my opinion the theatre at Segesta was much better than that at Taormina. Mary thought the small main town itself, which is adjacent to the theatre, was splendid, and reckoned she'd be happy to spend a week there (possibly a small fortune, too).
Later, safely back at our apartment in Pedara, our hosts Cristina and Ninni invited us into their apartment occupying the floor below ours so that we could see some of the original structure of the building and partake of a dolcé delight put together by Cristina. I asked Ninni if I could see the balcony on which shrapnel killed a family member in WW2. To my surprise the shrapnel had left a fist-sized scar in a stone pillar and this remains to this day. It also turned out that the person killed was Ninni's grandfather, which I hadn't known before.
Our last night in Pedara, after sharing our sole remaining bottle of Sicilian red with our hosts on the rooftop as the sun set, we didn't bother with going out to dinner, having been partially filled up already with Cristina's dolcé and the last of our cheese and bikkies.
And the next day, Tuesday, was totally dedicated to getting from Sicily to London (see next post for how we went).
Thanks for reading
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.
The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. In most parts of Sicily this connection has been good. There are quite a few WiFi options available too although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.
The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.
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