#7 Midnight Surprise: Taormina Sicily

Going to Sicily was a complete spontaneous decision while we were in Tuscany. The route that we conspired was a bit daunting from a hindsight. We basically had to drive along a large portion of the north-south axis of the country to get to the Reggio Calabria, the southern tip of the mainland in order to take the ferry to Sicily. They talked about a bridge for years but still no bridge. The drive to south was however full of scenries we never expected. While we knew the south is underdeveloped and somewhat depressed, we didn't imagine how isolated certain areas could be, from both a geographical and an econimical sense. After lush farming land of Campania were left behind, we entered Basilicata and Calabria, two provinces that were impossibly mountainous and desolate. The highway zigzaged through long tunnels half of the time, the other half, it seemed to be on some sort of bridges hanging along the cliff. The landscape was on the borderline of being Alaskan and a few towns we passed appeared very depressed. How could we thought of Southern Italy as a general warm place full of sandy beaches? It was nothing but wrong imagination.
It took us a while to find the ferry boat to Sicily in Reggio and by the time we crossed the strait, it was dark. We decided to drive through Messina because it appeared to be a busy port. Our goal was to get to Taormina, which we heard was an ancient resort town originally set up by Arabs. By the time we got to Taormina, it was late at night. The lights of the towns indicated that the place, like those in Almafi coast, is completely clinging to the cliffs on the ocean. Without a local map, we had no choice but to try our luck to find a hotel fpr the night. We ended up in Villa Ducale, our random pick, and got a sweet late-night deal. On the way to our room, Curtis noticed something strange high in the sky, a reddish and flame-like glow. Then we realized with surprise that it was the sight of Mount Enna. Mt Enna is an active volcano above the town and last erupted in 1997. At night, while the mountain was invisible, the lava flow
appeared coming out of nowhere among the stars. That was a most amazingly eerie but beautiful sight.
What we ended up discovering in the morning was that Taormina was one of the most beautiful towns in Sicily. It has an impossible and splendid situation that rivals any of the coastal towns in Italy. With Mount Enna on its back, it boasted many small yet impressive monuments and piazzas. A Greek amphitheater could still be visited. We took the long and steep steps down from top of the town to its center, which is closer to the ocean, and the view changed along the elevation. The meditarean always remained in front of our eyes yet Mount Enna hid in the clouds all morning except at one fleeting moment, it revealed its face and was captured by my camera.