top of page

WHY NOT TO SPEND A DAY IN TAORMINA!

A beautiful accident waiting to happen. Taormina has my heart and one day here was simply not enough..


The first (and last time) I visited Taormina sadly was only for one day. We were actually on our way to Messina from Gravina, Catania when we realised that we would have to drive through Taormina to get there and decided to take a little detour. What a beautiful detour it was.


My friend Sasha is the only one of us who had been to Taormina before and talked it up, a lot. So I couldn't wait to get there and see what all the fuss was about. For anybody who has not heard of this magical place, Taormina is a small town situated between Messina and Catania on the east coast of Sicily. It is everything you imagine when you think of Sicily – smooth cobbled streets leading you into the busy town centre, brightly painted houses squished together forming narrow alleyways and high up on the steepest of hills, spectacular views of the clear blue sea and the constant smell of fresh, warm Sicilian pizza in the air. Everything about Taormina is full culture and life. The drive to Taormina from Catania was approximately fifty minutes – not our longest drive in Sicily but long enough to have us as excited as a bunch of kids on their way to a school trip!


When we got there, parked quite literally on the edge of a huge cliff (in designated parking bays ofc) with amazing views of the town below and made our way down.. down.. down what seemed like a very steep, never ending road. Naturally, we did get lost a few times but eventually we came to a little narrow road and at the end, the Piazza.

Views From Above

After such a long and exhausting drive (and walk down the hill) the first thing we searched for was gelato! We didn't need to look far as we actually came across what I think was the best gelato I have had in Sicily so far at C&G - short for cioccolato & gelato (that's chocolate & gelato to us Brits)! Such soft and creamy gelato with dozens and dozens of different flavours. We all opted for gelato as well as something new. I tried Sicily's famous cannoli (connolo – meaning 'little tube'). Shockingly, I had never tried a cannoli before but it was sound! Cute “little tubes” of fried pasty with a cream cheese filling, other popular fillings are include chocolate and custard, and can be garnished with chocolate chips, nut shavings or icing sugar. [I'll be uploading my review on Trip Advisor shortly!]


Desserts

Cannoli/Cannolo

Princess Jazmine, Duh!

Triple Scoop Gelato!

C&G

After filling our stomachs with all kinds of sugars and fats, we were off again, this time to the strip, which looked almost like the Oxford Street of Sicily. Clothing stores, shoe shops, bars, restaurants, clubs, churches, make-up stores, art shops, market stalls – you name it, it's there! We spent hours walking at a pace only a snail could race with, wandering in and out of shops – looking but not really touching, taking photos and making memories. Who knew it would take us a whole day to walk down one street?


One of the shops we came across was the make-up store Kiko which we actually have back at home in England – like MAC but cheaper. They had a sale up to 80% on selected items! Now, I know what you are thinking. Five girls.. lots of make-up.. lots of offers.. I think we all know what happened next! I walked out of Kiko that day with small carrier bag full of new make up, which I am not complaining about! We spent over half an hour picking up eye shadows, putting them down, picking up lipsticks, swapping them for more eye shadows! The temptation was awful...for my purse. But my make-up box looks a lot happier now ;)


After having to practically drag myself out of Kiko, we continued our stroll and I found myself drawn to an alleyway which was decorated with amazing landscape paintings sitting on every other step leading up to the entrance of an art shop. Now of course, I could never fit these paintings in my suitcase but they were beautiful to watch – the colours, the textures, the fact that you feel as though you are in Sicily when you look at the paintings – just amazing. Other places we stopped at were; jewellery stalls (I bought myself a couple of nose rings and cute beaded necklaces), a model village store, another gelato store (ummm..yes we love gelato lol), souvenir shops (bought a sexy little hand fan and some bits for my peeps back home), corner shops and a couple of vintage stores.

Chereece Making Very Hard Life Decisions ..

Gotta Love Marilyn


Model Villages!

Art

By this time, the evening was pushing on and we noticed a very historic but beautiful church who's doors were still open. At first we popped our heads in just to be nosey, but saw so much beauty that we went in to admire up close. This is by far the most beautiful church I have ever stepped foot in! St Catherine of Alexandria Church was built in the 17th century on the ruins of the Roman-period Odeon (which can be seen in and behind the church). Inside, there is a wooden ceiling and a niche containing a statue of Santa Caterina, carved by Paolo Greco in 1705 as well as such carefully crafted cornicing and coving, massive chiselled pillars and paintings of Christ and Mary. Why can't all churches be as inviting and pretty as this one? In all its awe and beauty, we didn't want to interrupt the people who actually were praying (although many others had also wandered in to take photos and stare like wide-eyed, open-mouthed goldfish) so we said a little prayer, lit a candle or two and left peacefully.


After a hefty session of selfies and seascape photos in the Piaza after the sun went down, we headed back towards the car, but didn't get far before we were summoned by the amazing sounds of Stevie Wonder's Very Superstitious being played on the sax. We followed our pricked up ears to Caffé Wunderbar where we found a live band playing to the people of Sicily who ate their dinner, sipped their coffees and swung back their cocktails whilst they listened. There was me thinking our evening had already come to an end...but this was the highlight of our day! That saxophonist put his whole heart into that song - which is poorly recorded here (sorry for the bad quality!) accompanied by a female vocalist and the rest of the band, such a shame we couldn't get their names. I only managed to record about four minutes of Very Superstitious as every time we thought the song was about to come to an end they re-looped and sang it again! As you can see in the video, my lot had an amazing time singing and dancing in the street and many other people joined in too! We stayed for about fifteen or twenty minutes, just taking in the sounds and the ambience before deciding that it really really was time to head back. And that we did.

Taormina!

Holiday Nails!

Sasha Being...Picky

St Catherine of Alexandria Church

Play That Funky Music White Boy!

I feel like Taormina still has so much to offer and I have only seen a small glimpse of it. But if I ever return to Sicily (hopefully in he near future) one thing is for sure, Taormina is first on my list!


 

Have you recently been to Sicily? I would love to hear some suggestions about where else I can go and what else I can do in Taormina – day or night! Maybe you can suggest a good night club or bar? I'd love to try out the night life! Let me know down below ↓

ARCHIVE:
FEATURED POSTS:
bottom of page