We started the day by taking it easy again and heading out mid-morning for Taormina. It was roughly a 2.5 drive from the villa and is pretty much the exact same drive we took to visit my family in Messina a few days prior.
At the very end of the drive you scale the huge hills of Taormina and you’re just going up switchbacks climbing up the sides of the hills to the top of the hill. We parked in a very tight parking garage and arrived at Corso Umberto (the main street) around 1pm. We walked a block or so and then decided we needed some food.
Jaclyn found a place called Rosticceria Da Cristina which had some great reviews and sold arancini (I was dying for some and hadn’t had any yet on the trip!). We both ate delicious arancini and she also got an eggplant calzone which she raved about. This was definitely a good first stop!
After filling up a bit we continued down Corso Umberto and just did some nice window shopping and sampling. Brooke and Jaclyn sampled some very upscale chocolates from Nino & Friends and said they were incredible. Feeling left out, Brooke and I then went into a candy store that had all sorts of wild gummy candies and we filled up a bag.
About halfway down Corso Umberto we were able to stop at a great overlook of the Ionian Sea. It was absolutely stunning with the sheer cliffs rights next to the crystal blue Ionian Sea. We stopped to appreciate the view but wished we could’ve stayed longer!
As we continued to walk Brooke kept asking us to buy her a purse. It was pretty funny because she’s never asked for a purse before (or since) and Taormina literally only has high-end designer shops. So, the purses were all probably $500+.
We finally arrived at the end of Corso Umberta and regretted not allocating more time in Taormina. We got some delicious Gelato at Don Diego Gelateria Caffetteria and then turned back. I wish we would’ve had more time to explore the cable car down to the beach. But, even without doing that we had to rush back up Corso Umberto to ensure we had time to get to our next stop – Monti Rossi adventure park.
The park was about an hour away and we arrived around 4 in the afternoon. We spent 2-3 hours where Jaclyn, Brooke and Beckett did all sorts of ropes courses. I was on spectator and Beckett-corralling duty. The ropes course blew away expectations and Brooke said it was one of the highlights of her trip. It was fun to watch Brooke and Beckett start shyly and a bit scared, but with each time through their confidence grew and they had more fun.
Jaclyn also did a great job on the ropes, and I think they were a little harder than she may have expected. We decided to call it a day when the lady in front of Jaclyn was “rescued” midway through an obstacle.
By the end of the visit to the ropes course, Beckett was covered from head to toe in the super fine volcanic soil. Jaclyn wasn’t thrilled that the kids new sneakers that we bought right before the trip were filthy, but fortunately they washed off pretty well!
Overall, a busy but great day. We’d definitely love to do both of these things again in the future!