Sicily after growing up with our favourite movie being The Godfather, I feel like I can speak the language.  We are very excited.  Up nice and early to catch the shuttle from the hotel is 7euros, and takes 10 minutes, perfect. Checking in is tricky, the kiosks are in Italian, we just keep pushing the “Si” button. Our cheap flight to Sicily didn’t include baggage and they charge 45 euros per bag. Now that is a rip. A 55 minute flight, totally packed, row 4 with a window seat. Perfect.

OK what is it about car rentals that are so difficult. 1986 Florida a 3 hr line up. 2016 Paris took us an hour to find the car rental place. Today Sicily, I booked through Expedia for Dollar, couldn’t find Dollar, finally read the small print – OOPS they partner with Hertz, walk all the way back to the terminal. Finally have our turn and realize that I put my name on, OOPS, I’m not freaking driving in these little towns. They won’t change it so we have to add another driver 13 euros per day. They want 2 credit cards with my name on. Like seriously, they have my passport, my drivers license, my expedia bill, my visa, they are willing to take a copy of my return flight. Like it’s a freaking island, how far can I get with a stolen car and I don’t speak Italian. As always it works out, we have a lovely Opel station wagon with GPS. The Hertz lady tells us it is easy to get to where we are going. Do this, do that and voila you will be there. Well somehow we missed the do this and do that and spent 30 minutes trying to get out of Catania. Let’s try the GPS. Great the GPS is in Italian. I am now using my google to translate words. FYI Via means GO. We finally arrive in Taormina, which is perched on a cliff, the roads are basically one way. They have the longest tunnels through the mountains. We start following the GPS, is that a road or a driveway. Yep we miss our turn twice. Finally park the car and say, “how do we get up there?”. LOL. The best part is we now understand the town, hopefully we can find our way out tomorrow and don’t hit anyone. The roads are so narrow that if you meet a bus at a turn be prepared to back up so it can get around.

We are getting old, we need another afternoon nap. Our room is lovely, I am sitting on our balcony writing this. After our nap we decide to go out and explore the town walking, an amazing park just down the road looking over the sea, little alleys, lots of shops, cafes, restaurants, lots of Brits and lots of Italians. First step is to find the perfect little cafe where all the chairs face out the way so you can watch everyone walking by and enjoy your pre dinner drink.

After we get to our 10000 steps it is time to stop for dinner, We find a lovely little Pizza restaurant called Ristorante Pizzeria Taormina di Tony Mariana with about 100 different pizzas. A bottle of wine overlooking the Mediterranean with all the lights of the little towns twinkling. I have the Tony Pizza (spicy salami and roasted peppers),Jim has pasta and a wonderful bottle of Sicilian Wine

Time to put our feet up again LOL. A little stop for a bottle of wine which I am enjoying now as I write my little blog. So excited to be picking up David and Stephanie tomorrow, hopefully we don’t get lost 🙂