A ‘moderate breeze’ in Castelmola

According to the BBC, the wind conditions in Sicily can be summed up as either a ‘gentle breeze’ or a ‘moderate breeze’, the second of the two suggesting a day when you might go for a sail.

Perhaps the weather department, holed up in a cosy office in Basingstoke, have a pre-conceived idea of the weather far away in the Mediterranean. Today’s ‘moderate breeze’ felt ‘gale force’ to us in the village of Castelmola, about a 50-minute-walk from where we are staying in Taormina.

It was a lovely walk though, up what had once been a mule path, with views of Etna across the valley. We had lunch in a taverna filled with symbols of a part of the male anatomy, an oddity started by the present proprietor’s grandfather.

After lunch we came across a lady who was battling up the road to return to her car, but was defeated by the wind. Mark was a gentleman and ran after her scarf which prompted a flood of Italian from her before she realised we didn’t understand her.

Not much English is spoken in Sicily which is good as we are forced to use our (limited) Italian.

Taormina’s main claim to fame is its ‘Greek’ theatre on a high promentary overlooking the sea.

To call it a ‘Greek’ theatre is not strictly accurate, as the structure that you see today is mainly Roman. It is in a stunning location and it must be marvellous to attend one of the performances that is put on in the summer. Andrea Bocelli is due to sing here in August.

The apartment we are staying in has the advantage of a washing line outside our bedroom window. One load of washing dried while were out and I have a second load to put out now.

This is a real boon to us as, since Palermo, we have had to dry washing inside ‘Chinese laundry’ style draped on any available rail, hanger or on our elastic line strung between whatever hooks/knobs we could find.

On our walk back from Castelmola we were afraid we might find our washing had blown away, leaving Mark without any shirts at all, apart from what he was wearing.