Castelmola and Isola Bella
Apr. 24th, 2014 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blatherskiteToday was a day for staying close to home without staying at home. We planned to see two different areas near but not in Taormina: Castelmola (according to Fabio, who lives there with his family, "a castle on a mountain shaped like a molar"), which is to Taormina as Taormina is to sea level, namely Even Way Up Higher. On the other hand, Isola Bella (the beautiful island) is right down at sea level, along the coast Way Down Below.
In theory, you can walk up to Castelmola, but in practice, it would be a heckuva slog. Taormina is about 200 m above sea level, and Castelmola is about 350 m above that. In addition to being a steep climb, you would have to get there by walking a series of switchbacks that you have to share with all the usual vehicle traffic, plus buses. There are a few pedestrian paths that cut across the switchbacks, but so far as we could see, they won't take you the whole way. To spare both your knees and your adrenal gland, taking the bus is better. (Though given some of the narrow scrapes with the bus, maybe you don't save as much wear and tear on your adrenal gland after all.) It's easy to see why people built a castle up here: by the time your enemy made its way to the top of the hill, they'd be in no shape to fight you.
In any event, we made it up to Castelmola with no trouble and no particularly alarming encounters. Fabio told us the town has a population of about 400, and it's easy to see; it's about that small, and there are probably about as many hotels and restaurants as there are homes. It's main attraction is that there are tremendous views downslope into Taormina and further afield to Aetna. It's very much an eagle's eyrie kind of thing, and even on a hazy day like this day, the view is still amazing. But the town has other pleasures, including many quiet, winding alleyways filled with lovingly tended gardens. Also some surprising discoveries, such as the enoteca (wine bar) that specialized in phallic imagery and bottles. This is a Catholic country?
We prowled around for a while, enjoying the view and the various discoveries, then settled in for lunch at (Casa? Terrasse?) Dell'Etna, which had a lovely view downslope to the hills and cross-slope to Etna. Having enjoyed Shoshanna's casareccia sauce (rosé with tomato) during a previous meal, I ordered some myself, and it was lovely. Washed it down with (so far as I can tell) a corn beer from the Peroni brewery; didn't particularly like it this time, but on a later occasion, found it had grown on me.
On the way back down, we scoped out some of the vendor carts that had been setting up along the road from the bus stop, on our way into town. We gave in to a moment of weakness, and bought a hundred grams of candy-coated almonds, which were lovely but (in hindsight) at least twice the price we should have paid. I had a moment of thinking we really should have haggled, but it wasn't a huge amount of money, and I figured the vendors needed the money more than we did. However, next time we really should haggle, just to make it clear that we know how the game of "fleece the tourists" is played. I'm still willing to pay more than the fair price, but they should at least work for it.
After we took the bus back down into Taormina, we walked a couple hundred meters to the "funivia" (cable car) station. Again, you can get down to sea level easily enough if you're willing to brave the switchbacks and abuse your knees. But we opted for the safer route, particularly since it gave us a chance to take a cable car. I mean, c'mon: how often do you get to take a cable car? Isola Bella lies beside one of two beaches immediately below Taormina. The first beach is surrounded by sheer rocky shores, and seems mostly to be used for launching small boats. The second one holds Isola Bella, which is a small, rocky island that rises steeply from the sea amidst a somewhat sheltered cover. It's covered in trees and other vegetation, and so is quite lovely. It originated as the estate of a wealthy woman, Florence Trevalyan, and was subsequently donated to become a nature conservation park.
To get there, you walk along a beach that alternates between sand and cobbles. Sandy beaches annoy me, because the sand gets everywhere, and this sand was coarse enough to be very abrasive when it got stuck in my sandals. But as soon as you crossed the sand, you ended up on the cobbles, which are hard on tender feet. So you suck it up and keep your shoes on until you get close to the island, which is connected to the shore by a narrow isthmus a couple of metres wide and maybe 10 metres long. Because of how the island is oriented compared with the rest of the coastline, waves sweep in on both sides of the island and meet at the isthmus. So you have to take off your shoes and wade, as waves atack your feet from both sides, which is fun and refreshing, though the water's awfully cold. (I heard someone say 18 degrees C, and it wouldn't surprise me.) Then you limp across the rocks on the other side, scrape sand from your feet, and put your shoes back on. I enjoyed the cobble beach much more, because the waves (though not particularly high) were crashing on the cobbles and making them clatter like castanets as they settled back in place after the waves retreated.
We'd originally considered visiting the museum on the island, but we got there late, and a sign told us that much of the museum was off limits for renovation, so we decided it probably wasn't worth the cost. Since our main objective was to spend some time on the sea shore and see the island from up close, we considered our mission to be a success, and returned home. We'd originally thought to take the bus, but when it started raining and the bus was more than 25 minutes late (with the next one not due for more than 45 minutes), we decided to make the supreme sacrifice and take the cable car back up into town.
Nice way to end the day and to end our stay in Taormina, and we went back to Il Bachanale for dinner. It was just as good the second time around.
In theory, you can walk up to Castelmola, but in practice, it would be a heckuva slog. Taormina is about 200 m above sea level, and Castelmola is about 350 m above that. In addition to being a steep climb, you would have to get there by walking a series of switchbacks that you have to share with all the usual vehicle traffic, plus buses. There are a few pedestrian paths that cut across the switchbacks, but so far as we could see, they won't take you the whole way. To spare both your knees and your adrenal gland, taking the bus is better. (Though given some of the narrow scrapes with the bus, maybe you don't save as much wear and tear on your adrenal gland after all.) It's easy to see why people built a castle up here: by the time your enemy made its way to the top of the hill, they'd be in no shape to fight you.
In any event, we made it up to Castelmola with no trouble and no particularly alarming encounters. Fabio told us the town has a population of about 400, and it's easy to see; it's about that small, and there are probably about as many hotels and restaurants as there are homes. It's main attraction is that there are tremendous views downslope into Taormina and further afield to Aetna. It's very much an eagle's eyrie kind of thing, and even on a hazy day like this day, the view is still amazing. But the town has other pleasures, including many quiet, winding alleyways filled with lovingly tended gardens. Also some surprising discoveries, such as the enoteca (wine bar) that specialized in phallic imagery and bottles. This is a Catholic country?
We prowled around for a while, enjoying the view and the various discoveries, then settled in for lunch at (Casa? Terrasse?) Dell'Etna, which had a lovely view downslope to the hills and cross-slope to Etna. Having enjoyed Shoshanna's casareccia sauce (rosé with tomato) during a previous meal, I ordered some myself, and it was lovely. Washed it down with (so far as I can tell) a corn beer from the Peroni brewery; didn't particularly like it this time, but on a later occasion, found it had grown on me.
On the way back down, we scoped out some of the vendor carts that had been setting up along the road from the bus stop, on our way into town. We gave in to a moment of weakness, and bought a hundred grams of candy-coated almonds, which were lovely but (in hindsight) at least twice the price we should have paid. I had a moment of thinking we really should have haggled, but it wasn't a huge amount of money, and I figured the vendors needed the money more than we did. However, next time we really should haggle, just to make it clear that we know how the game of "fleece the tourists" is played. I'm still willing to pay more than the fair price, but they should at least work for it.
After we took the bus back down into Taormina, we walked a couple hundred meters to the "funivia" (cable car) station. Again, you can get down to sea level easily enough if you're willing to brave the switchbacks and abuse your knees. But we opted for the safer route, particularly since it gave us a chance to take a cable car. I mean, c'mon: how often do you get to take a cable car? Isola Bella lies beside one of two beaches immediately below Taormina. The first beach is surrounded by sheer rocky shores, and seems mostly to be used for launching small boats. The second one holds Isola Bella, which is a small, rocky island that rises steeply from the sea amidst a somewhat sheltered cover. It's covered in trees and other vegetation, and so is quite lovely. It originated as the estate of a wealthy woman, Florence Trevalyan, and was subsequently donated to become a nature conservation park.
To get there, you walk along a beach that alternates between sand and cobbles. Sandy beaches annoy me, because the sand gets everywhere, and this sand was coarse enough to be very abrasive when it got stuck in my sandals. But as soon as you crossed the sand, you ended up on the cobbles, which are hard on tender feet. So you suck it up and keep your shoes on until you get close to the island, which is connected to the shore by a narrow isthmus a couple of metres wide and maybe 10 metres long. Because of how the island is oriented compared with the rest of the coastline, waves sweep in on both sides of the island and meet at the isthmus. So you have to take off your shoes and wade, as waves atack your feet from both sides, which is fun and refreshing, though the water's awfully cold. (I heard someone say 18 degrees C, and it wouldn't surprise me.) Then you limp across the rocks on the other side, scrape sand from your feet, and put your shoes back on. I enjoyed the cobble beach much more, because the waves (though not particularly high) were crashing on the cobbles and making them clatter like castanets as they settled back in place after the waves retreated.
We'd originally considered visiting the museum on the island, but we got there late, and a sign told us that much of the museum was off limits for renovation, so we decided it probably wasn't worth the cost. Since our main objective was to spend some time on the sea shore and see the island from up close, we considered our mission to be a success, and returned home. We'd originally thought to take the bus, but when it started raining and the bus was more than 25 minutes late (with the next one not due for more than 45 minutes), we decided to make the supreme sacrifice and take the cable car back up into town.
Nice way to end the day and to end our stay in Taormina, and we went back to Il Bachanale for dinner. It was just as good the second time around.