Today was a transit day, so not much to
tell. We took 7 hours 10 min to cover 427 Km from Matera to Taormina, including
the Messina ferry (20 min).
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| Messina from ferry |
We travelled through mostly pleasant and
attractive scenery. Roads were generally good, but the closer we got to Sicily
and once in Sicily, they were not quite that good. Mind you, the approach to Reggio Calabria covers a very
challenging terrain featuring dozens of steep ravines running down to the sea,
each requiring a bridge and tunnel to traverse – a considerable engineering
challenge. There was a good deal of roadwork on this stretch, including new
tunnels. Munch the same conditions prevailed in Sicily between Messina and
Taormina. Here however, all the Galleria (galleries
and tunnels) were non-illuminata –
not lit – making it difficult to keep within the narrow lanes. The constant transition
from dark tunnels to brightly-lit bridges was tricky.
Back in Calabria, we passed through Cosenza, a town situated at the juncture
of many ravines and valleys – it looked like a fantastic place to visit, as I
just love terrain with lots of bumps in it. We were pleased to find that
Taormina is a mini version of that by the sea. The views from our hotel room
balcony are just fabulous, with rugged cliffs plunging directly into the sea
below. The town is touristy, but charming and reminiscent of the other
rivieras.
We took a quick tour on foot to several
vantage points and were blown away by the views on all sides. Daylight was poor
so the photos don’t go anywhere near to doing it justice. There was a full moon
this evening, with the reflected moonshine shimmering on the ever calm surface
of the sea.
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| Mt Etna |
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| Moonlight on the Med |
Our host recommended a good local
restaurant, where we had our first taste of Sicilian cooking. If this was a
good example, we can look forward to some great meals. This time we tasted
octopus salad, fish in lemon and caper sauce, veal marsala and
pannacotte-divine!
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