From June 19th, I have no more notes, so what follows is based on memory - - prompted by photographs. Rather than staying in Taormina, we were housed in a nearby town, Giardini Naxos. The hotel is spacious, with large pool encircled partly by tables & chairs, and partly by chaises longues.
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| large inviting pool, empty in early morning. |
Today most of the Globus tourists signed up for a trip to Mount Etna. But Joe and I love the beach, and we wanted to be alone for a while. Our hotel was not on the beach, but had a shuttle to carry us there. And so off we went, winding through the town ever downward toward the sea. The shuttle let us off right at the entrance to Lido di Naxos.
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| What does it all cost? Apparently for us, nothing as guests of the hotel. |
If I am correct, certain parts of the beach are controlled or maybe owned by particular hotels, and each is distinguished from the others by the color of its umbrellas and chaises. Ours seemed to be blue and red and white.
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| Well-regimented beach. Compare it with Eastern US free-for-all crowds. |
I was impressed by how orderly the beaches are - - All the amenities are aligned and in good order. None of this American-style picking one's way between beach blankets and sprawling bodies, umbrellas, picnic baskets, badminton or frisbee or football games, folding chairs (thankfully, boom-boxes are a thing of the past). Each umbrella stem has a little table at just the right height for small items, and is accompanied by two chaises.
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| This is the largest beach near Taormina. |
Quite a few vendors approached us. They were clearly not Italians, but immigrants from everywhere - - Africa, South or Central America, Asia. They sold beach towels, sunglasses, sunblock, sunhats. There were several young woman of SouthEast Asian appearance who were selling massages.
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| Do we want to buy a large bright towel as a souvenir? |
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The man on the left was selling sunglasses.
As the day progressed, we saw many families with small children. I loved the way local women who were clearly not young and who were clearly mothers wore their swimsuits so unselfconsciously. |
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| A lifeguard station. |
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| kids and grown-ups, little fishes, little boats, water taxis, cruise ships, all shared the water of this little bay |
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| Family fun time. |
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