Sicily

After a relaxing and beautiful day at sea on Wednesday, we awoke on Thursday morning to the beautiful mountains of Catania in Sicily.  Mount Etna towered over them all and although the weather was hazy, she was still impressive.  As we began our bus ride toward the town of Taormina, I was nearly breathless at the beautiful scenery all around us.  Taormina was nestled in the mountains and it was absolutely picturesque.  The city was built directly into the side of the mountains, with stunning green vegetation and gorgeous pink flowers everywhere.  The Mediterranean was visible from nearly every vantage point and it all seemed just too beautiful to even be real.

We had several hours in Taormina to explore on our own.  There was a very nice shopping district with all sorts of boutiques and souvenir shops.  There were many cafes and restaurants and of course, gelato shops.  We decided to treat ourselves to lunch at La Buca, and a treat it was. I had the most delicious gnocchi I ever tasted.  It was drenched in this amazing gorgonzola cream sauce and I wanted to eat every last morsel.  It was so delicious.  The other ladies ordered a Seafood linguine, that was also very tasty.  It's not every day one gets to eat seafood while seaside!

After lunch we walked through the streets, checking out the different shops.  There were many beautiful things to see and I wish we would've had more time.  

Before long it was time to head back to the bus and start our descent back down to the cruise ship. Taormina was such a quaint and beautiful town.  I would certainly hope that I can return to Sicily someday to do some more exploration!