We arrived in the breakfast room earlier than the previous day and to our relief it was a lot less chaotic. It being the weekend, we indulged in a glass of Prosecco with our breakfast. In my case I paired it with fruit; sadly strawberries were not on the menu.

Suitably replete, we walked to the main bus station in order to catch a bus to Taormina-Giordani station to check out the train availability to Syracuse, where we planned to visit later in the week. We also inquired if there was a scheduled bus to Syracuse and were told that there were no scheduled buses there but later in the week we found that this advice was incorrect!

Unfortunately we found that the the train station ticket office was closed and we were unable to inquire about about our proposed journey. There were no physical train timetables available to peruse at our leisure so Mr C photographed the wall-displayed timetable to allow him to figure it out at his leisure. Our journey was not wasted, the station with its fine ceiling and architecture was well worth a visit.

After our brief but unproductive visit we hopped back on a bus to Taormina where we enjoyed a mid morning cappuccino in a cafe opposite the tourist information office where we hoped to get advice about a visit to Syracuse by public transport. Unfortunately it was shut; we had forgotten that it was Sunday.

We investigated some of the Taormina alleyways and found ‘The Odeon’, a small Roman Theatre nestling between more modern buildings, we stopped off for lunch in a cafe where, on a previous day, we had enjoyed a refreshing drink overlooking Piazza Duomo. On this occasion I chose to indulge in a strawberry pancake which was delicious.

We headed back to the hotel where we intended to linger over a bottle of Prosecco by the hotel pool, chilling out in the afternoon sunshine. Our requirement seemed to have been lost in translation so we ended up with a couple of glasses. The bar attendant seemed to be rushing us…

Later we dined in  Rosso De Vino (mentioned in my previous p0st). The food, staff, service and venue were wonderful. We were provided with the menu and shortly afterwards a member of staff arrived to explain the specials board and the catch of the day platter.

The platter was a dish of whole fish presented for us to choose from. The waitress advised that all the fish could be cooked to our exact requirements using fresh, authentic Sicilian ingredients. She further advised us that we could choose a fish to be cooked in two different ways for sharing. Mr C chose the ‘Big Eye’ fish which is local to the area and we opted for two different cooking options (pistachio coated and Sicilian style with olives and caper) so that we could enjoy different tastes of Taormina fish cuisine.

Mr C added a starter of dish of Carpaccio fish which we shared and both of our dessert options were delicious

Whilst we were dining Mr C decided against going on his planned visit to Syracuse. The journey would take up to much time (four hours return journey) and would not be relaxing. We had a plan B…