Taormina

Today we took a tour of the classic Greek theatre in Taormina. It went through many revisions as the city was ruled by the Greeks, Romans, Normans and Byzantines. The Romans did the most damage when they turned it into a gladiator arena. However, the theatre always retained its value by being in a location with beautiful views and and being a wonderful sound chamber by having the sea behind the stage—this allowed the sea breeze to always be pushing the sound to the audience. There is seating for 2,000 people. It is the 2nd largest theatre in Italy. Many famous classical groups and other popular performers have been on this stage. Taormina is the most culturally diverse and well-educated city in Sicily—the tour guide called it “an island within an island”. It was an alternate home for many writers, including Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Goethe and Lord Nelson. The pictures today are of the theatre, an apiary horse from a garden donated to Taormina by Lord Nelson's wife, a view from an old castle on a hill above the city and Anne having a drink or two. Well, actually one of the drinks was mine :). We climbed the hill to the castle after the drinks—fortunately, we had no falls. You can see the theatre from the hill picture!