May 4, 2007
Hello from Sicily – Goodbye Taormina
– Hello Milazzo!
My last day in Taormina had started: I woke up at daybreak to pack
my suitcase since later today I would be relocating from Taormina
to the city of Milazzo. I enjoyed my final breakfast on the gorgeous
terrace of Hotel Villa
Nettuno, the place that had been my home for the last seven
nights. Pictures of yesterday’s
hike up Mount Etna flashed to my mind. The view over the Ionian
Sea continued to fascinate me and I hope that one day I will make
it back to beautiful Taormina.
Taormina's beautiful Villa Comunale, formerly a private estate,
now a public park
My last day of classes had started and our strict yet witty language
teacher Carlo continued to teach us the intricacies of Italian pronouns
and adverbial phrases of time and place. His colleague Simona took
over at 11:40 for our communications exercise and we started to
listen to a recording of a real-life Italian call-in show where
a person called into a radio station to talk to two psychiatrists
to discuss fears and phobias.
Each equipped with headsets, we listened to the recording twice
and recounted what we had understood. Then we embarked on an unscripted
discussion of our own fears and phobias. In addition, Simona had
prepared cardboard cards with questions. Each one of us got to pick
from the stack of cards and we got to choose who we were going to
ask the question we had picked. This provided another great opportunity
to talk and apply our Italian language skills. An animated philosophical
discussion ensued and everyone had a chance to express their thoughts
and feelings.
Entrance to Taormina's Palazzo Corvaja
After taking pictures with my class mates and our teachers, I dropped
by the office to say goodbye to Alessandro and his team. The entire
crew at the Babilonia
Language School had been extremely helpful over the past week
of my stay, I had indeed picked up my Italian skills (and was officially
at Intermediate level now), and I had thoroughly enjoyed all our
various excursions: from our hike
to Castelmola Friday a week ago, to our archeological and cultural
excursion to Siracusa, to our
walking tour of Taormina,
my glimpses at Babilonia’s cooking
and pottery decorating classes, our hiking
excursion to Mount Etna and various dinners and social events,
the last seven days had been packed full of exciting activities
and opportunities for learning and forging new friendships.
I sincerely thanked Alessandro and his team and hoped to come back
some time in the future. Together with two of my new-found friends,
Jill from the UK, and Connie from Switzerland we went for a little
walk and decided to have lunch at a local restaurant called Panoramic
Bella Blu which is located on Via Pirandello right next to the cable
car station that connects hill-top Taormina with beach-front Mazzaro.
We enjoyed a nice late lunch with a stunning view over the Mediterranean,
and about an hour later I had to say goodbye. I had double-checked
at the bus station when my bus would come to take me to the railway
station at Taormina – Giardini Naxos so I would be able to
make the trek to my next destination: Milazzo.
Vincenzo and Maria Sciglio and three Babilonia students
Before departing I went back to Hotel Villa Nettuno to quickly
download my photos and take a few more shots of the beautiful garden
that is part of the Sciglio family’s estate. At the top of
the garden is the so-called “Tempietto” (“little
temple”), a temple-shaped lookout point with benches and a
sweeping view over the Ionian Sea and part of Taormina. I took a
few quick photos with Vincenzo Sciglio, the patriarch of the family,
and two of my German Babilonia co-students and at 5:30 pm I sadly
said goodbye. Vincenzo promised that when I come here next time
he will take me to the family’s country retreat where they
make home-made wine. He said he produces the grape juice for the
wine by stomping on the grapes with his bare feet. Well, next time
I come to Taormina I definitely want to see that.
The "Tempietto, a beautiful greek inspired temple, overlooking
the Mediterranean
Although my departure was a little sad, my next adventure was already
waiting: tomorrow I would embark on a one-week sailing trip around
the gorgeous Eolian Islands with a different language school called
Laboratorio
Linguistico, based in Milazzo.
After a 10 minute bus ride, I arrived at the Taormina - Giardini
Naxos train station and had to wait for about 45 minutes before
my train showed up. The commuter train that arrived was a beautiful
sleek and modern train and I grabbed a seat in the corner. A few
rambunctious teenagers were playing loud music, singing and ribbing
each other. Obviously teenagers will be teenagers, no matter where
you go….
The Art Nouveau train station at Giardini-Taormina
A local gentleman sat down across from me and introduced himself:
Giorgio works as a security guard at Taormina’s Greek Theatre and enjoys his job. He told me about his family: his wife stays
at home with their three children while he is the sole income earner.
His job gives him sufficient income to look after his family and
he said he keeps his expenses low. The family only has one car and
he still drives around all year on his 30 year old Vespa. Giorgio
also commented that a few years ago Trenitalia, the Italian government-owned
railway system, invested in new commuter trains. Giorgio smiled
when he said that the remainder of the rolling stock is pretty much
“museum quality”.
I am going to ride in style...
He also mentioned that the strange spring weather that we had been
having (a fair amount of rain, fog, overcast skies), is rather unusual.
Normally at this time of year the weather is clear and sunny. He
summed up his feelings by saying that for the last three years or
so the climate has been strange. A side effect of global warming
maybe?
After Giorgio left about a half hour into the train ride I had
a chance to reflect on the 8 days that I had already passed in Italy,
and the new adventures that were still to come. I was starting to
feel a bit apprehensive about the sailing
trip that was supposed to start tomorrow. I was wondering about
sea-sickness, the small confined space on a sailboat and I was praying
to God that I was going to have good shipmates. On a small sailboat
even one really strange character can make the trip unpleasant for
the rest of the group.
Another part of me was really looking forward to the experience,
and my anticipation was growing. After changing trains in Messina
I arrived just shortly after 9 pm at my destination for today: Milazzo,
headquarters of the Laboratorio
Linguistico Language School, and the embarkation point for my
sailing trip tomorrow.
Ladies' washrooms in the Messina trainstation: 0.50 Euros please
Francesca, the wife of the school’s co-owner, graciously
came by to pick me up from the train station and took me to my home
for the night: a fully equipped 5-bedroom apartment right above
the school’s offices. Francesca took me into my room which
I was going to share for one night with my new travel partner: Claudia,
a Lufthansa flight attendant from Germany, was also going to go
on the sailing trip with me tomorrow.
While Claudia was sleeping I headed out for a very late dinner.
It was already about 10:30 pm before I found a local restaurant
two streets over. I had a delicious Insalata Cappriciosa and at
a price of 3 Euros the salad was less than half the going rate of
the restaurants in Taormina which had charged about 7 or 8 Euros
for a salad. I realized very quickly that tourists in Taormina are
paying a premium rate for everything and that Milazzo was definitely
more affordable terrain. Back at the apartment I downloaded my photos
and briefly met two of the other teachers at Laboratorio Linguistico:
Jean-Claude from Ireland, who teaches English at the school, and
Francesco (Franco) Pozza, an Italian teacher and co-owner of the
school. I found out that we would be gathering outside the school
tomorrow morning at 9:30 am to meet Francesco Di Santi, the other
co-owner of Laboratorio
Linguistico, and our skipper for the week.
I felt into bed exhausted, wondering what the next week was going
to hold. I was excited – looking forward to my first sailing
trip.
Interesting and useful books about Sicily:
Useful links:
Sicily
Tourist Information
Taormina
Tourist Information
Eolian Islands
Tourist Information
Babilonia Italian
Language School
Hotel
Villa Nettuno in Taormina
Laboratorio
Linguistico Italian Language School
Related articles:
My Italian language learning adventure
in Sicily in 2007
Hello from Sicily: Arrival in Taormina
Hello from Sicily: An
interview with the Sciglio family from Hotel Villa Nettuno
Hello from Sicily: A hike to Castelmola
and a taste of Sicily
Hello from Sicily: An excursion to
ancient Siracusa
Hello from Sicily: A leisurely
Sunday at Isola Bella
Hello from Sicily: Language
studies in Taormina and a walking tour
Hello from Sicily: A country driving tour
around beautiful Mount Etna
Hello from Sicily: A private lecture
about Sicily and the Mafia
Hello from Sicily: A Sicilian
cooking class in Taormina
Hello from Sicily: A hike up Mount
Etna a few days after an eruption
Hello from Sicily: Goodbye Taormina
- Hello Milazzo
Hello from Sicily: Starting my sailing
trip through the Eolian Islands
Hello from Sicily: Discoveries of Lipari
and Salina
Hello from Sicily: A driving tour of
Salina and Italian studies on a patio
Hello from Sicily: Explorations of
Stromboli, featuring an active volcano
Hello from Sicily: Beautiful Panarea
and a nice dinner in Lipari
Hello from Sicily: A driving tour of
Lipari and arrival at Vulcano
Hello from Sicily: Conquering Vulcano
and a final dinner in Milazzo
Hello from Sicily: Discovering Milazzo,
its long history and architecture
Hello from Sicily: An excursion by train
to the medieval treasure of Cefalu
Hello from Sicily: Discoveries
in the Nebrodi Mountains
Hello from Sicily: My final day in
Catania
Presenting:
The Babilonia Italian Language School in Taormina
Presenting:
The Laboratorio Linguistico Italian Langauge School in Milazzo
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