As on the previous day I enjoyed chilling (with a book) out on the French balcony in the early morning sunshine whilst Mr C snoozed for a while. Our plan for the day was to visit the Alacantara Gorge on the CityBySee bus but, once again, the trip set off at lunch time leaving the morning free.

Photo taken by Mr C

As we were leaving the hotel to visit the municipal gardens, the hotel’s  resident dog took a fancy to me. He came running past Mr C and jumped up at me with a waggy tail, putting his paws on my legs. At one point the gorgeous dog put his paws on my hands.

After this delightful encounter we revisited the municipal gardens to enjoy a relaxing and tranquil morning. Shortly after we arrived Mr C realised that he had left his hat in the hotel room. While he walked back to the hotel  to retrieve his hat, I stayed in the gardens to explore them at my leisure. I enjoyed my slow paced walk around the garden, seeing things that I had missed on our previous visit.

When Mr C returned, hat in hand, we left the gardens and headed in the direction of the bus station. Our walk took us past what was described on our previous days tour as a Romantic Ruin and also the Necropolis, which is the remains of an old Byzantine cemetery, before finding a viewing platform looking out over the Isolla Bella bay.

Next to the viewing platform there was a convenient cafe, L’Oblio, it was a cafe with a view. As we were being served with drinks before our food order of aranchini arrived, the waiter somehow managed to unbalance the drinks on the tray causing mine, a fresh orange drink to be spilt. Luckily he missed me.

After enjoying lunch and the views, it was time to walk the short distance to the bus station to board the bus to the Alcantara Gorge. We were treated to amazing views and driven along many narrow almost un-navigable streets whilst listening to the interesting commentary of the various things we were seeing. The Gorge itself was beautiful and, on this brief trip, the focus was using the lift to get down to the gorge and the free wine tasting available in the shop area.

We descended to the gorge but due to time constraints we were unable to explore much more than that. We had just enough time to see the 3D video experience and to find out that the free wine tasting was only mini morsels of food and liquors. The tasting session was rushed and designed to lure tourists into buying the local produce. After the previous days experience we made sure we were back at the bus in plenty of time.

Back in Taormina, we stopped for refreshments in a cafe bar before indulging in an Italian ice cream. In the hotel I had a relaxing soak in the bath which was briefly interrupted by Mr C providing me with an unexpected glass of Prosecco!

Shortly after this  ‘room service’ provided us with biscuits after two days absence…

We dined in Le Quattro Fontane where the food and service were excellent. I chose seabass, it was served in a butterfly style and was delicious. I followed this with Cassata; all I can say is WOW!

We made our way back to the hotel for an early night to be ready for an early morning start for our visit to Etna.

The breakfast room was light and airy and the buffet spread was comprehensive, including some rather sweet looking choices that were not quite to my palate first thing in the morning. After breakfast we met with Sylvana, the Citalia rep. She told us about the various trips that were available and where to find things in Taormina. We decided not to choose there and then but consider the options, especially the different types of trip for visiting Etna.

We headed into town enjoying the streets and shop displays before it got too busy with guided tours. We stopped for coffee before heading off to the municipal gardens. We got a bit off track and ended up by the Greek theatre which we decided to leave for another day. Instead we went in search of the main bus station so that we could check the timetables and see if the was a scheduled service to Syracuse. We failed to find the bus station although we passed by the cable car terminal.

We headed back into town for lunch before setting off on another route to locate the bus station, again without success. Instead we located the correct path to the municipal gardens. The gardens were lovely, and, quiet after the hustle and bustle of the town.

The weather was sunny and perfect as we enjoyed the garden but as we left there was an ominous rumble of thunder in the distance. On our way back to the hotel we stopped for a cool refreshing sorbet ice on a stick. Lemon flavour was the obvious choice for me.

Back at the hotel we decided that we would sit and read by the hotel pool although the idea was slightly delayed due to a short rain shower. Eventually we walked through the delightful hotel gardens to the pool area where the sun graced us with its presence once again. Later when we headed back to the hotel there was another lite sprinkling of rain with thunder and lightning in the distance.

I had in indulgent soak in the bath before heading out for dinner in restaurant Don Camillo. I had freshly cooked fish with potato and onion salad whilst Mr C had stuffed squid. We both had cannoli for dessert although they were filled with custard cream rather than ricotta cheese.

After dining we returned to the hotel terrace for a nightcap accompanied by live music. A fortieth birthday party was taking place; this should have been on the terrace but the earlier rain meant that the celebrations had moved indoors to the conservatory area.