Italia Day 12 - Part 1 - Taormina

By the time we settled into Taormina I was finally starting to feel better from my cold, so I decided to get back into my early morning jogging. For me, there is no better way to see a town or city than to get up at dawn & go for a run before the crowds arrive.

The main street of Taormina was a very different place at 6.30am.

The laneways that run off the main street reminded me of Melbourne - they were filled with bars, restaurants & shops. Not much life at that time of the morning though.

I decided that I would run down to the beach - there is a cableway because it's such a long way down, but I also wanted to experience the local's way. This is the view from the top of the stairs - looking north along the coast.

Looking down at the beach - the left side is pretty much all paid - 10 euro for a chair, umbrella & changing room.

Etna is never far away.

It was a very steep descent, but also very pretty.

This is about half-way down - you can see all the chairs set up, ready for the tourists.

Finally I reached sea level. It was very quiet at this time of the morning, but some of the boats had already started out.

If I had counted the stairs on the way down I may not have gone down all the way. There were about 450. It took me twice as long to climb back up. The sun here is hot from the moment it rises - and it had decided to rise just about at the time I was standing on the beach.

From about 1/3 of the way up I got this view of the remaining climb. Lucky there weren't many people out & about when I got to the top, because I was bright red & dripping with sweat - not a pretty sight.

After a cold shower & some breakfast, we headed back down to the beach at a more reasonable hour & I got to experience my first 100% pebble beach. Not too comfy, I guess you could say. I cut my foot trying to get down to the water the first time. After that I learned my lesson - slow & steady wins the race. Seems to be a constant mantra for my trip in Italy so far.