We never understood the charms of the smartcar until now. It uses more gas than our Mazda 3 and has a lot less room. But our Mazda could not have squeezed into these tight parking spaces. Many of the sidewalks are used for parking.

We ran into several groups of card-playing men in a shaded square near the botanical gardens. Then into the gardens...

 
Dr. Livingston, I presume?? Venus flytraps are good for holding the interest of kids. This instructor is quite enthusiastic. 

This beautiful building doesn't seem to be in use these days, but some kids are getting a tour.

We headed up several long stairways to a church high in the city.

 
There are two churches on this high plaza. Various symbols over the arched windows include the Star of David. A faucet in the shape of a lion's head empties into this basin. A woman washes the marble steps to a side door of the church in preparation for the day. The view of the city from this perch is vast and you can see down to the docks and back toward the mountains. The view also includes this domed church with its bell on another high perch.

After the clock was finished with its display, we walked over to the train station and headed southward to Taormina. We had been near here in 2006, but we had not explored the Greco Theater--the amphitheater ruins.

 
The train ride along the shoreline is beautiful. You can open the windows, which allows us to take some pretty photos.

Once we got off the train, we could see the ruins atop the hill and we saw a sign pointing to Taormina, but no obvious route. Dean asked an elderly woman where to catch the autobus to Taormina. She said, "No, no. Escales. Diez minutos!"  She made herself clear with hand motions that we were to walk up the pathway. So we did. Dean made it twelve minutes, but it was a long, steep walk up the hill.  We look back to the train station at sea level and we are only about halfway to the top.

Nasturtiums and pink Queen Anne's Lace-type flowers grow wild along the pathway.

As we get closer to the top, the pathway becomes more civilized.

The tiles include house numbers and many of the three-legged symbols of Sicily. 

We knew we were getting close when we saw this road sign.

We paid the admission and we were in.

When we looked over to this neighboring peak with the town Castelmola built on top of it, we realized that was where we'd been in 2006. So we looked through our old photos and saw that we'd seen the ruins from afar back then.

Here's our old photo looking back down.

Mt. Etna is steaming in the distance and even from here we could hear its rumbling, but just barely. 

The narrow streets are lined with souvenier stores and various nooks and crannies, but it was time to go back down the stairs to make the afternoon train. All in all, a lovely day in this Italian port. Tomorrow we'll be in Naples, on the mainland.

 
Naples looks like an interesting city as we pull into our berth on the dock for the day. We liked the look of the structure atop the hill. But first there's a market to visit. It's drizzling, so we bring the ship-issued umbrellas.

 
Again, a city of contrasts. Posieden presides over this fountain.

Mama mia! Italian cheese looks and smells delicious

This priest is entering the market as well. He allowed his photo to be taken, but did not smile.

  
We thought the windmill in-between the city buildings was an odd placement, but when we get there we find that it's a piece of art. Then we head up the stairs.

As we got higher, the views, even through the foggy, drizzly air, are wondeful. Note the soccer goal on the roof. There is a lot of street art, but this one on a roof access structure stands out as one of the more interesting ones. The legs of the bearers are literally peeling off the metal surface--not sure whether this was on purpose or happened later with moisture under the paint.  

  
When we reached the tall building we'd seen this morning, we learned that it's called Castel Sant Elmo and that it used to be a fortification. 

But now it contains a modern art museum. That surprised us for sure.

 
We head down hill but in a different direction to find the botanical gardens.

 
A meat boutique... And we also find that the America's Cup demonstration regatta is being held here this week.

    
We pass Parco Flora, which is some type of stadium, and then an urban school with its mini-soccer fields on its roofs.