A lovely set breakfast is served in a room on the top floor of the hotel with fabulous views of the area.

Another road trip today with the first stop at the tiny (pop 1,714) mountain village of Savoca, made famous because it was used as one of the locations for the filming of the Godfather movie. The church and the local bar were prominent locations for the filming of the 1972 movie. The road to it can make you seasick with all its twists and turns but the location of the village is rather idyllic. We walked to the tiny church where the marriage took place. The church is still functioning and has a bunch of pictures from the movie on display next to the religious statues-a bit ironic.

The walk (uphill) to the church led us past a local bakery where the smells compelled us to stop after our visit to the church. They were giving out samples of freshly made biscotti and promised that their bread would be out in 10 minutes so we had to wait because the sweet smell of bread was overpowering! Well the 10 minutes turned out to be more like 25 but it was worth it as I walked away with three small baguettes of still hot bread (olive, sun dried tomato, and Parmesan). While waiting for our bus we tore off hunks of the warm bread and wolfed them down. All that was missing was some olive oil or butter. Savoca was a fun stop!

The main activity of the day, however, was a luncheon in the home of a local family. It was quite an extravaganza! We were met by the host’s daughter and walked to the home where we met a close friend of the family who had recently moved back to Sicily after spending 40 years in New Jersey, running her own restaurant. She was a “hoot” and acted as our translator as our host proceeded to serve a lavish lunch to us accompanied by pitchers of her homemade wine. We had an appetizer plate, followed by a traditional pasta featuring eggplant. We thought that was the lunch when out came a dish with sausage pattie’s and a salad. We all groaned a bit but kept eating. Next came her homemade lemoncello and a demonstration on how to properly peel the lemon needed for the brew, along with the recipe so we can make it at home. And then….came the dessert – a monstrous mound of dough balls covered with a chocolate mousse, another traditional Sicilian recipe. We left several hours later completely stuffed; it was a marvelous event and one to be remembered.

Our late afternoon was free but Giusi offered to walk us up to the famous local landmark, the Greek/Roman amphitheater located in Taormina. Yvonne and I had seen it  20+ years ago while on a cruise so she remained behind while Sue, Gerry and I went. It is quite a sight, but again because it is used for present day concerts was visually less appealing because of all the scaffolding/plywood used for the concerts. You could not fully appreciate the complexity and beauty of what was built

2,000 years ago. The amphitheater is made of red bricks, indicating that it is a Roman design, but its layout reflects that used by the Greeks so it is another example of the Romans rebuilding such structures to suit their interests. It is the 2nd largest amphitheater in Sicily, only Siracusa is larger. We walked around and then quickly left as a rain shower descended on us; luckily we had brought umbrellas so we avoided getting wet.

Another “it’s a small world” example:  Gerry had learned that friends of theirs from Indiana happened to be in Taormina at the same time we are here so he arranged for the six of us to gather for drinks and dinner this evening. We met, we had cocktails at the hotel, then had a lovely dinner at, yet, another outdoor restaurant, while comparing stories of our respective travels in Sicily.

Steps for the day: 7,915.  But we made up for it by eating a lot!