Gole di Alcantara, Granduca, and Music

“What? I’m wasn’t looking at anything.”

Apple Maps indeed led us to Gole Alcantara. However, it is the name of a restaurant on the sea. Google Maps had put us a half hour inland, so we had an initial intense conversation about where the water would come from, determining if my Google or his Apple were correct. Google, you won—but not until we went on a loop-di-loop drive to try you.

Finally arriving at Gole Alcantara, we were hot and crabby. There was confusion as to which admission ticket to buy; there is a public entrance operated separately, but I couldn’t find it. Joe bought elevator tickets, which we weren’t planning to use, but it worked out. After getting stopped on our walk with the botanical gardens (because we only had elevator pass wristbands), we took the lift down to the sea, and all was well. Once we started our Trekking Fluviale, we were normal happy people again.

The river trekking involves walking through currents of icy cold water, which flows down from the melted snows atop Etna (not from the sea). The river flows through an ancient basalt gorge. The gorges are 25 meters high, and 2-5 meters wide.

The canyon was formed over thousands of years of water flow, revealing now the large vertical striations. The Fondaco Motta locality is the most impressive gorge of the Alcantara. It is easily accessible for the first three kilometers.

What is notable about this gorge is the structure of the basalt walls, created by lava flows. These flows cooled quickly, creating pentagonal and hexagonal prismatic shapes—replicas of the molecular structures that created them. These are reputedly dated back to the magma flows of 8,000 years ago. They form prismatic structures called a stack, a harp, or organ pipes. I personally find the organ pipes the most impressive.

Horizontal basalt formations in the gorge

Flowers with the tenacity to grow in an impossible spot

View of gorge from above

…and below

Ice-cold river

This is where locals come on a hot day, with plenty of snacks, water, towels, and sunscreen. And water shoes. I overpaid and bought a pair for €13 of the ugliest shoes I now own, but they were worth it! The trek cannot be done in bare feet or sandals.

Family fun day

Then, a beautiful seaside lunch at a great restaurant with a silly name, Dolce Vita. The food (linguine with clams and mussels, followed by mussels pepata and breaded fried spatola, with semifreddo for dessert), wine, and heat of the day made me crash until 4, when we were to meet Lilliana and kids at the beach.

More sea swimming, sun, and gelato, before getting ready to eat again! Baby Tea is fearless. Tomi and Simo were animated, telling us stories and describing which type of pizza is which family member. Margherita is mamma, Capriciosa is the daughter, and Diavola is the aunt—that’s as far as we got.

We came back to the house to change clothes; Tomi discovered I could play chess, and we used Vincenzo’s priceless antique bronze chess set to play. Our match was cut short as we were leaving for Granduca, one of the two “most important” restaurants in Taormina. The other one, whose name I’ll try to recall and thus edit this post, was filled to the brim tonight with the Film Festival’s grand finale.

Decorated old Fiat with perfume sponsor. 

Simo and Tomi posed.

Seaside supper spot

Rooftop celebrities at private film fest party

Tea’s waiting for her chair

Tiled steps to terrace

Walking up to the town from the apartment, my jaw dropped every two seconds, looking at all the red carpet attire—plenty of Elisabetta Franchi, D&G, and simply elegant other gowns and a few Armani suits. In fact, as I looked down, there was a red carpet leading to the piazza on the belvedere.

Our dinner at Granduca was, naturally, pizza. Their specialty is a lightly smoked salmon on a crema mousse, atop an artiginal crust. I had two types (half and half)—zucchini flowers with anchovies (“Girosole”), and braesola with arugula and burrata (“Italia”). Although I began the meal still full from lunch, I ate every bite.

Who is this? She was live-streamed from the ancient theater stage setting.

After supper, we checked on Film Fest activities, but mostly wanted to listen to the live music.

Lilliana rounded up her troops, to get everyone to bed back at the house. She soon reappeared, looking for Simone (a frequent occurrence), since he snuck back because he thought tonight’s singer was pretty. He wanted to see more of her.

Of our crowd, Vincenzo, me, and Joe remained, but not for long. We got to the house and figured out that Lilliana is staying in the second condo, but the kids wanted to sleep here.

 And to all, a good night.

Music—Simone not leaving yet