Ortigia, Siracusa 🚗 Taormina, Italy
Cappuccino
Nothing to misinterpret, here.
“Bar,” Next Door to Via Roma 92, Ortigia
We are chasing the sun, here on Sicily. We moved up the eastern coast of the island to Taormina, a resort town with plenty of beaches. Our hotel pick was Hotel Caesar Palace, found on booking.com. The kitch-factor is high, the price is low - we’ll take it!
Before we left Ortigia, we got a quick breakfast of espresso and granita (yes, grantia is a breakfast item), grabbed yet another granita at BelBon, and hit up Fratelli Burgio for some sandwiches to take on the road. We passed Mount Etna on our drive to Taormina and mastered the Italian highway toll system with relative ease.
Once we arrived at Hotel Caesar Palace, we lounged at the pool, sipping Aperol Spritz and playing audience to a scheduled water aerobics class at 17:00. The pool DJ suddenly took his shirt off and began to instruct about half a dozen senior citizens through an intense water workout, fueled by a heartpumping EDM mix. Talk about people watching. The water aerobics instructor was so passionate about the routine and really put in 110% into his fist pumping motions. The movement was infectious. Yennie was entranced.
For dinner, we drove (and by drive, we mean wind up and down and twist and turn some weird roads, directed by Google) into Taormina in search of arancini, a Sicilian delicacy. Arancini is a fried treat, made with cooked rice and cheesy filling. We found Da Cristina on TripAdvisor quite easily. It was clear you go here for arancini. We ordered malanzana, ragu, and pistachio and they were all super tasty. Fried rice, but not fried rice. We walked around Taormina, window shopping and people watching (our current and favorite pastime). It’s clear Taormina is an up-scale destination for Italian vacationers. Remember: we’re in the town over, at the Hotel Caesar Palace. 😉
Aperol Spritz
Aperol, Prosecco
Hotel Caesar Palace, Via Consolare Valeria, 130, Giardini Naxos
