E Una Fatticaccia!

I have walked so much these past 6 days that I must have legs of steel. My pedicured feet are blistered and stung (more on that later). Im now in Taormina, this glitzy, ritzy town thats very much like Capri, set high on a cliff with sparkling waters way down below, expensive shops, dotted with wildflowers and littered with tourists. As soon as I arrived after a morning of buses and more trekking to the hostel, I dropped my bags, detoured via the beautiful Teatro Greco and got the cable car down to the beach. Of course the free beach is quite a hike and I was surprised to see no one in the water, although the beach itself was packed. I jumped over the hot stones to the waters edge and dipped my feet in...only to see thousands of small red jellyfish hogging the water. Aaaah! I got stung just by one, and so had to contend myself with baking and not cooling off.

Taormina is a ridiculously romantic place as well, how can it not be, and its beautiful to see all the couples (there are only couples), of all ages, walk hand in hand, kiss, talk, stroll. Yes, its hit me a little today, just a little. But the men have been good here, and its true, that the Sicilian men arent nearly as bad as the northeners, that its just a myth from ye olden days. There was a ragazzi who planted himself practically on top of me at the beach yesterday, and for the first time I slipped on a ring on that finger, to disuade him. Felt very false, and I had to take it off.

So Im at a hostel, and the place has its freaks, and Im reminded of that feeling of never wanting to stay in hostels again. Older men should not stay in hostels. Hes a nice enough guy, but goes on and on about how cheap he is, his eyes light up when he shares his secrets of trekking for miles to some grocery store to save 5 cents here or 15 cents there. Woo hoo! Theres an older woman, obviously recently heart-broken, treating herself to her first vacation, but she looks a nervous wreck. And then those Canadian backpackers, tattooing their huge packs with Canadian flags and pins. OK, so youre telling us youre not American, we get the point! You still look like prats though!

Siracusa was wonderful. So old, so decrepid, making Venice look like Dubai, and there lies its charm. I fell in love with its tiny lanes and traffic jams and small town ambiance. My last night I went to see Ecuba at the Teatro Greco and that was an awesome experience. And Ive been reading Alberto Moravia's Contempt, and that has put my head into a spin...I wanted to read it here as a significant part is set in Capri, and wanted to feel the Greek gods' power resontate with the power of the modern day story of a relationship falling apart...I love the book, but kinda wish Id started something less thought-provoking.