I wasn’t too happy about leaving our Malta hotel at 3:00 AM but all is well because this place is absolutely gorgeous. We are staying in Taormina that is certainly the most picturesque place I have ever seen. My hotel room over looks Mt. Etna and the beautiful coastline.

Our first day here was free. Our 6:00 AM flight was only 45 minutes so we were here very early unable to get into our rooms. So our guide, Nino, took us on a quick tour of the area pointing out restaurants and shopping. Game on!

The flowers and balconies are beyond description. We have been wandering down alleys and climbing stairs having no idea where we are going to end up.

Lunch was a spur of the moment stop for pizza and off course wine. This piece of pizza will be the pizza benchmark for the entire trip.

Back to the hotel for a quick nap and then to the bar for a welcome drink of Prosecco and to meet the new arrivals and then off to dinner. So far my go to meal has been Pasta alla Norma. So far I have had it 3 times. It is made with Casarecce pasta. It is tubular pasta that is about 5 inches long. I will find it in the grocery store before I leave. Pasta alla Norma is made with eggplant. Traditionally it should have ricotta cheese on top but not like the ricotta that we know. This cheese almost looks like sliced mozzarella cheese and they brown it under high heat until it is almost crispy.

Our next morning started out with a guided tour of Taormina. It also included a visit to a classical Greek-Roman theatre that has been restored and is now used for outdoor concerts and performances such as Andrea Bocelli.

Before lunch we stopped at a store that sold all things pistachio. They served us bruschetta made with pistachios, canolis made with pistachios and pistachio liqueur. The owner grows his own pistachios and they are harvested every 2 years, A very fun store.

Of course, lunch was afterwards and a long hike up to a pizzeria that our guide, Nino, recommended.

More walking after lunch and of course a nap before our welcome dinner. Everyone has finally arrived. 2 people were a day late because of the bad weather in Florida.

Part of our experience at the restaurant was making our own arancini or rice balls. They were so accommodating to me with special rice with no cheese and directions how to make to rice sticky without tons of Parmesan cheese. We had many choices for fillings and I chose eggplant and peas. Rather than shape the rice balls into balls we were instructed to make them into volcano shapes because we were near Mt Etna. Once they were shaped you covered them in a wet mixture of flour and water and then bread crumbs. Off to the fryer they went and below is the results of my culinary talents.

The evening ended with going to the opera. Not a big fan of opera but when in Rome……

One of the funniest parts of this leg of the trip is that our guide, Nino, has decided that I would make a perfect wife for his father, who is a 62 year old widow. We have had more laughs over this and me being his stepmother. I told him he should have brought this up at the beginning of the Sicily leg so I could have meet his father. I saw his picture and he is very handsome.