Taormina takes you back in time

When you travel as a tourist by car, bus or truck to visit Taormina, town of five thousand people, you will probably park in the parking garage. It is a modern building with six floors and a patio at the top from which you can take photo of the countryside, and walk into town to explore the shops. The videos are taken from this patio.

One of the rooms on this side of the Excelsior Palace Hotel would give you a great view of Mount Etna when it is putting on its fireworks display, but not all of the buildings are this grand. Look at this one nearby tower.

Here is a video that will take a minute to show you the view of the country as seen from the terrace of the parking garage.

When you are walking down the main street of town, you will know you are halfway to the end when you reach the town square.

The gateway arch at the end of the street is the end of the old town and a view of the coast is beyond that. There are many beautiful narrow alleys that lead up or down the hill to other parallel streets.

Inside the shops you may find all kinds of unusual things from the past.

Of course, there will be a church or more,

and why not have a restaurant convenient to the church.

There was another historic building that was of interest to someone other than me. House numbers are a recent addition to towns.

We were only here for the morning so we had to head back to the bus by noon.

It was a relief to see the parking patio after a morning of walking the streets of this enchanting town. The washrooms were not on the patio level but down a floor or two in the parking levels. There were snacks available for sale, but no place to sit down.

Just a reminder that Mount Etna is close.

If you prefer the vertical format for videos, I offer a closer look at the fertile country of Sicily. (you can step to the end if you do not want to see this video.)

– Where do you want to go today? –