Siracusa to Taormina

A good sail north from Siracusa

Serenity in full sail

After leaving Siracusa our first stop was Brucoli where we anchored in the bay and went ashore for supplies. A quiet, non-touristy spot.



Serenity and Pruveda anchored in the bay with Mount Etna in the background (honestly!) except it was always in the cloud while we were here.

Next stop was Acitrezza. 

A small harbour behind huge basalt pillars rising out of the sea. 

These are known as the Ciclopi and are said to be the rocks that the blinded Cyclpos Polyphemus threw at Odysseus fleeing with his crew. When Odysseus landed on Sicily the one-eyed monster took him and twelve of his crew prisoner. He ate six and then Odysseus blinded him with a burning stake and escaped with the rest of his crew by clinging underneath the Cyclop's sheep when they went out to graze.

Taormina

Revisiting another favourite spot we had been to last year.

Anchored in the bay with the town of Taormina up on the hillside.

We were sharing the bay with Sea Cloud 2.
If you look carefully or zoom in you can see two people hanging on rope ladders off the bow painting the hull - what a job!

Not a good picture but in the distance you can just see fire at the top of Mount Etna.

Walking down the main street of Taormina. 
While we were there we couldn't understand why there were so many armed police and soldiers walking around. Also in the bay we were watched by four police boats, two coastguard launches and a helicopter constantly circling overhead. We later heard that it was in preparation for the G7 summit being held here in a weeks time.

 David at the top of town with Mount Etna to the right and our anchorage to the left.

The main church at the top of town.

Walking down one of the many small lanes off the main street with Wolfgang and Ursula 

Ursula & Wolfgang (Swiss couple from their boat, Pruveda), David and Dave.

From the top looking down with Pruveda and Serenity bottom centre. 

A few examples of the beautiful balconies in the town. 

The start of the walk back down to the shore which Wolfgang assured us was fine as he had walked up to meet us off the bus.

The two Captains (having their picture taken by the two Admirals!)

The point at which we wondered if we should have believed Wolfgang! 

Beautiful wildflowers!

A rest stop to take photos.

We made it!!

Dave and I went back the next day to see the Greek Theatre and discovered a lot of work being done to set up the stage for the G7 Summit. Amazing backdrop for a theatre!

Wolfgang and Ursula sailing round the bay in their collapsible dinghy.