Had a comfortable flight from JFK -Fco on Delta. With priority check in , boarding and lounge access it was quite wonderful.
The seats were a 2-2-2 set up. It was quite nice and spacious , service was good , food as you would expect on planes , entertainment choices very disappointing. I watched ‘Rum Diaries’ and then took a 4 hour nap.
Got to Rome then went to the Alitalia lounge. The flight to Catania was about an hour.
Mt. Etna looked pretty from the plane. Snow capped and majestic.
Hotel is a a 45 min drive from the village of Taormina.
Lunch was a club sandwich at 4 pm at the terrace overlooking the active mt.Etna. In the evening we happened so see some lava erupting too. The next day the airports were shut for a few hours… 🙂
Below- view from the Terrace of the hotel
The view from my balcony
The Grand Hotel Tameo from the outside – a super Orient Express hotel property
There was an amazing sweet and sour salad which I totally missed to capture!
Granita is a popular dessert or breakfast food- its shaved ice with some flavor ( orange, coffee , strawberry), to be eaten like an ice cream sandwich by putting it in a brioche!
We had a version of it for dinner– heaven!
Only slept 4 hours. We have to be out of the hotel at 9:30am. A wonderful first day in Sicily- I don’t have any expectations , I was so pleasantly surprised. Wonderful people- warm, friendly and very proud of being Sicilian.
pearltravels 