I've been on a few tour groups while traveling with my family, and if I had to sum them up in one sentence, I'd probably say this: you certainly meet some interesting people. The most interesting member of our tour group in Sicily was definitely Mr. Kostas. He was a dwarf, but despite his small stature, he undoubtedly was the heart and soul of the tour bus. I remember him sitting in the back of the bus with the other cool kids, telling stories and jokes, as well as contributing to the tour itself with his own explanations and remarks; you see, Mr. Kostas had traveled a lot in his life, and it wasn't the first time he was visiting Sicily.
For a big part of the trip, he had been raving about this place called Taormina, which was going to be one of our stops along the way. He had been to Taormina in his previous trip to Sicily and it seemed to be his favorite place there. Given his exuberant nature and his constant enthusiastic ramblings, I didn't think much of it. But Mr. Kostas knew what he was talking about, and when we finally got there, I couldn't help but agree; Taormina was absolutely stunning.
The municipality doesn't allow tourist buses to enter the town, so we had to take a special shuttle bus that took us all the way to the top - Taormina is entirely built on a hilltop, about 250m above the sea! In ancient times, it was a Greek colony named Tauromenion, and portions of the ancient walls can be traced at intervals all round the brow of the hill. In fact, those are not the only remnants of those times; the most impressive sight in the town was definitely the "Teatro Greco", an ancient Greek theater that is very well preserved and still in use - it hosts all kinds of shows, from plays and concerts to operatic performances. Unfortunately, we didn't come across any of those shows that day, but I'd definitely love to go back and attend an event there; I bet it's magical, since I could never imagine a more breathtaking scenery than the Ionian sea in the background!
After exploring the theater, we walked through the streets of the town, among its old churches, lively bars, fine restaurants and antique shops. In fact, a rather historic moment took place at that time; my brother decided to start his famous hat collection by buying a beautiful straw hat lined with a ribbon in the colors of the Italian flag. So, my only regret about this visit? It was way too short. The gorgeous town of Taormina is most certainly very high on my list of places to visit again sometime.
(photo taken by me)