How Sicily Stole Our Hearts

Sicily turned out to be a beautiful, romantic surprise amidst the backdrop of a very hectic schedule to-date (especially in Rome). We split our four days here between the two towns of Siracusa and Taormina; both of which we recommend highly! It could have been the beach town vibes, the unique and scrumptious gastronomy, or the feeling that time slowed down, but we finally found it easy to relax and unwind.

Siracusa

Our travel day to Siracusa consisted of many vehicles: walking, metro, train, shuttle, plane, and bus! It was our first time flying ultra-low cost airline Ryanair and it was actually a pretty seamless experience. It was cheap, with great service, and a pretty decent (paid) meal. They pitch the freshest and best-tasting coffee on board, and we agree! Though it was interesting to taste brewed coffee again after subsisting mainly on espresso so far. Our taste buds have been acclimating well to the coffee culture in Greece and Italy though I miss my cold brew routine very much!

Luckily we didn’t experience any travel snafus and the day was relatively easy. We arrived in time to check into our favorite Airbnb so far and then track down the best gelato on brioche in town (PRIORITIES, PEOPLE). I mean look at it, if that doesn’t scream happiness, I don’t know what does.

Speaking about other beautiful things, our Airbnb was located in an old building just blocks away from Ortigia where we spent most of our time. It was clean, well furnished, and very comfortable inside.

We also had a strategic reason for keeping things low-key today: it was the start of football season! After pre-gaming with some local beer and Sicilian pizza (“The Vulcan” inspired by Etna, the local volcano), we hopped on a video call with Juliette’s family to wish her mom happy birthday and watch the Notre Dame football game until midnight our time. It was great to catch up and see some friendly faces! Insert shameless plug here for ZOOM video conferencing software- it was easy to use and had great picture quality!

The next day, after hitting snooze a few times and then a quick breakfast, we set about exploring the historic isle of Ortigia. Here you could see Spanish influences in the heavily fortified Castello Maniace and in the town square cathedral. Additionally, they have a temple on Ortigia dedicated to the Greek god Apollo, and another amphitheater a little farther away (which we did not get to visit).

There was certainly a lot of strolling through the quaint streets, stopping periodically for coffee, cannoli, and granita (all at the same time) or arancini (a Sicilian street food which is basically a ball of breaded, deep fried rice, and cheese). We also made time to visit the beach! Our favorite activity here, in addition to swimming and beaching, was searching for cobalt colored sea glass, which apparently is the rarest of the sea glass pieces.

As the evening began to wane, we found ourself with some drinks (and CURLY FRIES) and a beautiful sunset off the coast. We ate a late seafood dinner at restaurant “A Putia Della Cose Buone” and then enjoyed the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes (hint: there was more gelato involved) of the Ortigia square at night. One highlight involved a street performer from Florida covering various famous songs which reminded us of home. Talk about a pretty wonderful day!

Taormina
After a much less complicated travel day, we arrived in gorgeous Taormina and knew we needed to get to the beach ASAP. See the pictures below for the reason why:

Everything in Taormina turned out to be amazing. We were staying in an ocean-facing hotel with easy access to Isola Bella island in one direction and a cable car up the mountain to the Taormina city center in the other. We used both in our first day with a brief time admiring the shores near Isola Bella and then the evening up in Taormina. I’ll let the pictures in this post do the real talking here but it was an incredibly romantic and awesome night. It would have been impossible to take a bad photo in this mountain-side town.

The next morning we headed immediately back to the beach for a more comprehensive visit to Isola Bella and the beach. Hidden in the mountain-island is a fantastic home, which has literally been carved into the side of the mountain with twisting passage ways, multiple levels and balconies, and an incredible sense of solitude and peace. It has changed ownership a few times but is now a nature reserve and museum due to its history and exotic flora.

Isola Bella is connected to the mainland via a narrow waterway where the sea comes up to your knees. Beautiful but rocky beach is available for parking your butt on either side of this passage with amazing views regardless of the angle. Here we spent a few hours lounging and swimming in the crystal clear water until the sun just got too hot. We were most likely the least tan people on the beach and we hightailed it outta there back to our shady mountain habitat!

We took the cable car up again to the top of Taormina and enjoyed a delicious panini lunch with sparkling Sicilian lemonade before heading to the Greek theater. This was such an impressive sight!

It’s even more impressive considering that the Italians still use it today; in fact there was a stage being set up for an upcoming concert while we were there. The Greeks definitely picked a great location! Look at those views of Taormina and Mt Etna!

Our next stop took us to the communal gardens, which were also pretty amazing. English gardener Florence Trevelyan populated the gardens with many species of plants in the late 1800s. She basked in the beauty of her version of paradise from the balconies of intricate “beehives” (terraced structures) that she designed that were located around the property.

Sadly, the sunlight started to fade away again on our last night in Sicily. We ended the day with a gelato stop, two glasses of wine at a street bar, and then a fantastic Sicilian meal at Mama Rosso’s complete with mussels, gnocchi, rigatoni, tiramisu, and Italian street performers in the background. If you imagined the spaghetti scene from Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp,” you aren’t far off!

We definitely underestimated the beauty and simplicity of Sicily in our trip through the east coast and wished we had more time here. While we didn’t cross paths with the Godfather (probably a good thing), we caught some amazingly romantic views, ate delicious seafood, and were able to slow down for a few days. Add both Siracusa and Taormina to your list of places to visit!

You’ll hear from us next up the Italian west coast in Salerno (near Amalfi, Pompeii, and Mt. Vesuvius)!

GP