Friday 5th – 6th June, Taormina Sicily

Today we get to meet to meet a whole cast of locals in the little town of Belvedere just south of Maratea. After getting up and having our first swim in the Mediterranean before breakfast (the water is already nice and warm) we head off to Sicily. Unfortunately we don’t make it far before the crazy driving of the Italians, which had left us clutching the dashboard on many previous occasions, finally caught up with us and we got to know half the small town of Belvedere. Sav got tailended by middle-aged Guiseppie. We were ok, the Peugeot was a bit dinged but poor Guiseppie was a bit worse for wear and the ambulance was called. Half the town came to direct traffic, although none spoke English, until Commandante Palmeiri Francesco and Lieutenant Vincenza turned up in what can only be described as a clown car (the Fiat Panda with its blue siren looks like something you’d see six clowns jump out of at the circus). Then our tour of the town started in earnest as the Commandante lead us (with the help of De Luca Francesco, another local who was called upon to be our translator) firstly to the local smash repair centre, then down to the hospital to check on Guiseppie and get his signed statement (where we met some of the local staff and Guiseppie’s family) and then to a local restaurant run by Luigi, as the Commandante assumed we must be hungry after our prolonged ordeal. Despite the language barrier, everybody was really friendly and helpful and wanted to ensure that our holiday was not spoilt by our detour.

A few more hours of driving and a ferry across to Sicily we eventually arrive in charming Taormina at 8pm. The coastal town is built on a very steep hillside and the ancient alleyways were not built for cars as Sav found out when we spent 5 minutes edging our way down the narrowest of lanes with barely an inch to spare on either side of the car. Our hotel is not far from the centre of town and we head for some Sicilian anti-pasti and a couple of drinks followed by magnificent canolli!
On Saturday we sign ourselves up for a Sicilian cooking course. The day starts at 9.30am and we are the only students there. The restaurant owner, Angelo, takes us to the small local market to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and local seafood. Then we’re joined back at the restaurant by Chef Marco where we’re taken through the preparation of a range of delicious dishes including Carpaarta (Cooked Eggplant, Zucchini and Capsicum salad), tempura battered ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers (Sav’s favourite!), lightly fried local whitebait and sweet Paretea fish, macaroni (made from scratch) with tomato and eggplant oregano sauce, and tuna steaks with chilli and olive oil dressing. The best of all is that we then get to sit down and eat it all with some local Sicilian white wine followed by fresh cherries and another amazing Canolli! We struggle back to our hotel for a siesta in true Sicilan style.