About Me

I am a 45 year husband and dad, currently adjusting to life back in the United States after living in Italy for a little over two years. I love spending time with my family, cycling, model railroading, mosaics and watching TV and movies.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Modica, Villa Romana del Tallaro

It's our final full day in Sicily.  We had again hoped to visit the Aeolian Islands, but the weather just did not want to cooperate.  Katrina checked the weather and it looked as though it might be better down south.  


View from our room this morning - fog!

We decided to head down to Modica.  Our guidebook said that Modica is a beautiful town with "sun-bleached, pastel colored houses than tumble down to the lower city.  

It was about a two hour drive south through beautiful countryside and some narrow twisting roads.  We finally arrived in Modica, although we didn't know it, and weren't very impressed.  We didn't see any sun bleached pastel houses, just a very hilly town.  

We decided to move on.  We had a general direction, towards the coast, but didn't really know where we were heading.  We decided to call it our 'exploration day'.  We drove back roads, passed through small towns and villages while heading towards the coast. 

In one town I spotted Chinese lanterns hanging outside a restaurant, so we stopped for a pretty tasty lunch.  

Farther down the road Katrina sighted a sign advertising ruins of a Roman villa, so we followed the directions down some country roads until we found it - Villa Romana del Tellaro.  Although not a major tourist site, we did enjoy this very nice display of Roman ruins and mosaics.  The mosaics made up for the ones we missed at Villa Romana a few days ago.  


Katrina and I at Villa Romana del Tellaro


I absolutely love the simplicity and detail of Roman mosaics



We weren't supposed to take pictures, but the attendant let me take them anyway.  



These two mosaics were created by students.  The Villa offers mosaic classes and retreats.  Aren't they just beautiful.  


Our Fiat Doblo at Villa Romana del Tellaro

From here, we headed northeast towards the coast.  We stopped in Avola to check out the sea views.  



Brandon enjoys the views and a Chupa Chup.


Right behind us on the beach.  I'll bet this was a nice place at one time.

We arrived back in Taormina around after dark, around dinner time, and decided to spend it with your new friends at Carpe Diem.  We had a fantastic evening.  


View from our room at night.


We had a nice light dinner.  Brandon had some pasta, I had an Arancino and Katrina had brushetta.  We enjoyed some wine as well.  Brandon was given a plate of fresh strawberries with chocolate and we were given some shots of Limoncello.  




Salvatore and Brandon, new buds


Senora Maria, Gigi, Brandon, Salvatore, and the waiter from Bangladesh.  

This was a great way to complete our trip, with our new Sicilian friends.  If you are ever in Taormina Sicily, I recommend you visit Carpe Diem.  Say hello to Gigi and tell Salvatore that Brandon from Oregon sent you.  

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