We drove into the upper city and parked in a garage--visitors are not allowed to drive cars within the center of the city, but there are scooters. The parking fee seemed a bit high at 11 euro, but it is based on the number of hours your car is there.
Here we are at the top level of the parking garage. Those stairs lead up into Taormina...they have a free shuttle bus, but the boys were gung-ho about climbing all those stairs!
This is a beautiful little terrace featuring a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Below is a small garden area with palm trees, morning glory flowers, and a row of very old niches that may have contained statues or friezes.
A relatively small Roman amphitheater is in the middle of town, right behind the church of Saint Catarina. Visitors can go in and explore the ruin.
The art district of Taormina is full of all sorts of things, from gorgeous antiques (think gilded hand mirrors, silver tea services, candelabras, etc. etc. etc.!) to oil paintings, to handmade jewelry, to specialty culinary items. This is just one of the alleyways completely full of beautiful things. We did not, sadly, bring enough cash for a gilded hand mirror.
The entire city of Taormina is so picturesque, we took over a hundred photos of just streets that we passed by. This is seating for a more upscale restaurant, as you can tell by the table linens and chair covers.
Here is the small garden below the shrine to the Virgin Mary.
Many of the homes and shops in Taormina are painted with bright designs, like this one.
This home also had one of the most interesting balcony gardens we've ever seen!
Yet another quaint restaurant:
We finally got a nice photo together, courtesy of Landon! We're pretty lacking in photos of just the two of us.
We had to get a shot of just how clear and blue the Mediterranean can be. Gorgeous.
These towers in the public gardens were built by Florence Trevelyan for bird-watching. They can't be entered today, though you can walk all around the exterior.
Another photo of the Trevelyan towers.
The Bam Bar - we just loved the name, and the fact that the menu is painted on the exterior walls.
Here is part of the lido strip, taken from right above the sand. The lidos are of course very crowded in August, since it is the Italian holiday month.
Unfortunately, we did not see the main historical attraction of Taormina, the large Roman (or is it Greek?) amphitheater. We are definitely planning another trip soon, with the main objective being the archeological museum and theater ruins!
