In the shadow of Mount Etna

It was day 2 of our Sicilian adventure, but it was more than just that – it was July 4. For the second straight year I was spending the fourth away from America (not complaining this time either, but Happy Fourth of July to anyone reading from America!). We woke up early (around 9 am, which is still early for me) and headed eastbound for more churches and ruins, neither of which we ended the day without seeing.

Our first stop was a church, or a sanctuary rather (which appears to be the exact same thing as a church). The sanctuary was seated at the top of a mountain with an amazing view of the coast below. A nearby railing provided the dual purpose of offering a view of the Mediterranean and its coast and providing sanctuary from a dramatic and ruinous fall (there are lots of cliffs in Sicily). The church was nothing spectacular, at least not after a full day of visiting spectacular churches the day before. I found myself taking the history for granted. “Oh, this church was built in the 15th century, it is brand new!” When we walked upstairs Mar was disappointed to see that instead of a window to the sea there was a big mosaic of Jesus. I suppose you have to take what you can get.

Later we stopped at a medium sized town on the northeastern coast of Sicily. From here it was only a 3 km swim to the mainland. (Mar writing from now on because the kid is tired). At the beginning of our relationship I sent text messages to Greg as a good morning thing with the sentence “Good morning Calabria!”, so I was excited to be in a church in Messina facing Calabria. The best view was, again, from where the church was standing but this time there were no Jesus blocking God’s most beautiful creation: our planet (well, Swiss created Lindt Chocolate which is kind of in the same level of wonderfulness). We were hungry so we decided to go to Taormina, a wonderful town about 30 km from Messina. It is pretty intense to get to Taormina. It is on a super steep hill and the highway does some crazy loops six flag style. The road goes out the mountain and back, into tunnels, up and down… we all got sick, me being the first one. The nicest thing about Taormina, archeologically speaking, is a Greek amphitheater, rebuilt by the romans, that was partially destroyed during the WWII. It looked like a normal roman theater but it is the emplacement that is nice: from the amphitheater you could see the bay and the Edna smoking (Greg: Concerts would be amazing here and the news is Joe Cocker is coming to town soon)! Taormina is one of those typical Sicilian small towns with narrow streets and hundreds of geraniums everywhere.

I recently cut Greg’s hair, so my mom made him wear a terrible hat that my dad wore for two decades (at least!). It is pink and purple, a marvelous combination of colors… very masculine. Greg looked super turisty with that hat!
We went to sleep to an hotel even higher in the mountain. In a very small town called Castellomole. Because it is in the top of the mountain we had a 360 degrees view. From our balcony we had an amazing view of Taormina. Castellomole has only one street for cars that ends up in a cozy square were cars are not allowed to park. The rest of the town is pedestrian and all streets are made out of stairs. Greg’s knee was kind of bad. We have to get that fixed; one lame per couple is enough. We had dinner in a nice terrace. We are eating too much, and very late. My stomach is not used to this anymore. Eating pasta or a pizza with salami and cheese and walnuts and Gorgonzola at 11pm is too much. Greg seems to be pretty fine doing that. He falls asleep, though, immediately after we eat.

-Greg and Mar