Towering Taormina Italy

Taormina is on the east side of Sicily up near the toe of the "boot." (All pics are clickable for larger images so you can see the details.)

Seen from our ship, Taormina sits on top of a ledge. We were headed toward the center of town up in those hills (not the beach resorts at the bottom). The city was founded 735 BC by some Greeks. But in subsequent years, it was dominated by many cultures, all of which can be seen in the ancient architecture.


We got in a shuttle bus and wound our way up the mountain.

Us being goofy.
At the top of the hill, you step through this castle wall.


This courtyard was the first thing we walked into. The statues were a little weird. On top of the fountain (which I couldn't get close enough to to get a good shot) was a little Jesus-looking figure with the body of a horse. You can kinda see it. He's wearing a crown on his head.

The city streets are narrow.

Looking up the mountain, there were homes and villas up the hillside.


I loved all the ancient rock turrets on top of this castle section. You can see how old it is just from the stones and how the wall was built.Jim loves signs like this.

Beneath an archway was this mosaic.


This is looking down the hill from the street.

Inside an old church.

Notice the Moorish flourishes in this courtyard.

The narrow street divides here.

Now, looking back down at our ship.

Old walls. I love them.


Me having a Diet Coke at little bistro.

There was much more to see, but we were exhausted, so instead we just stopped. After I got home, I googled Taormina and realized we missed a GORGEOUS Greek theatre. Here's someone else's picture taken from this website.

So, once again, we were bad tourists, but touring can be hard on the body when you haven't had much sleep and your jetlag is still in effect. There's much more to see from our cruise. I'll be posting more soon.