After a little over a month of blogging about this trip, my Sicily series is over. Today I’ll be taking you through my final day there. It was simple, but it was one of my favorites.
Instead of eating breakfast at the hotel, many of us waited until we got to Taormina to have some cannoli instead. That cannolo was the best I’ve ever had. They put the cream in the shell right in front of you so it doesn’t get soggy, and it’s topped with sweet almond pieces and powdered sugar. It was the flakiest, crunchiest, and most incredible dessert. If you ever find yourself in Taormina, be sure to hit up Roberto’s for a once-in-a-lifetime cannolo. Oh, what I would do to eat one right now! PS: Their torrone is crazy delicious, too.
This was outside the little bakery. Our tour guide, Nicole, translated a couple of them for us, and some are really funny.
A really cool staircase guarded by a face.
The only thing we had planned for this day was to visit a pottery shop called Made in Sicily. One of the owners told us about their products and how everything in the store is hand painted.
This woman did a demo in front of us. It blows my mind how much time is put into these.
I bought a couple things there for friends and family and a little owl for myself.
After the mini tour, we had about three hours to shop and get any last minute gifts to bring back home. My grandpa, uncle, aunt, and I got lunch, and then my aunt and I went on the hunt for the perfect scarf. Everyone I passed by on the street there always had the most elegant and beautiful scarves, so I couldn’t leave Sicily without getting one! I ended up buying two. They make me sad/happy when I wear them!
This was a cute display in one of the shops we went to.
I loved window shopping and going into all the designer shops. It was so fun admiring all of the beautiful clothes and other items with my aunt!
Ugh, and I wanted that sweater so bad! The store was closed, though 😦 I would have bought it in a heartbeat.
And now, my friends, I present to you… the last gelato. *sobs*
This is ginger and chocolate. See, I told you I only ever got chocolate! But, hey, at least I was adventurous with the opposite flavor! Ginger was actually really nice and unexpectedly good!
While it’s definitely a bit of a touristy area, Taormina is a really fun little town. There’s so much to look at, do, and eat there, and I had a blast roaming around that day.
Later in the afternoon, our group met up and we rode back down the hill to Letojanni. There had been a storm brewing all day, so my friends and I went down to the beach to watch the waves. These were the biggest and craziest waves I have seen. It’s almost as if Sicily was having a temper tantrum that we were about to leave…I sure was! 😉
These photos aren’t the greatest, so I posted a quick video on Youtube for you to watch if you’re interested. Here’s the link.
This one is the biggest of them all! I have a video of it, but all you can hear is my friends and me yelling, so I took a screenshot of it instead:
We hung out at the hotel after it began raining before we headed to dinner. The restaurant we went to was only a few minutes from the hotel, so we all braced ourselves for the rainstorm and made the treck.
For dinner, we each had a small pizza to ourselves. The weirdest thing happened at this restaurant, too: We were each handed our pizzas, but they weren’t cut into slices! So, we had to use our little butter knives and cut them ourselves. It was quite strange, and everyone was curious as to why they weren’t pre-cut. Despite that, it was so fun sitting down with our whole group on our final day in paradise, even if we were all in a pre-grieving state about leaving.
After dinner, my friends and I hung out for a few hours before bed, packing up our suitcases while singing songs and drinking Coca Cola. Then, when 11pm struck (our curfew), we said goodnight and headed to bed.
The next morning, the storm had calmed down and the ocean was still again.
We went down to breakfast and loaded our luggage onto the bus. And now for the fun part: the crazy traffic! It was supposed to be only about an hour to the airport from our hotel, but it took us way longer than expected because of the inexplicable traffic jam the entire way there. We all thought we’d miss our flight, but, thankfully, we made it! We even had some time to spare in the airport gift shops.
Our first flight to Germany was about two hours. Taking off from Sicily was so different from landing there ten days prior; my mindset was completely fresh and new. When we arrived, I was nervous and scared to be in a new country, and I didn’t know anyone too well in our group, either. I was a completely different person on the flight home, though: I had both new friends and new experiences under my belt, and I felt ready to conquer the world.
Hi, Mount Etna!
And thus, our journey back home began.
I arrived home at around 11pm-ish. I didn’t sleep on the flight back (instead, I watched 3.5 movies: A Star is Born, which is my new favorite movie; Bohemian Rhapsody, which I’d seen before but wanted to rewatch; Beautiful Boy; and half of Mamma Mia 2). Lufthansa has the best movie selections ever!
When I got home, I showered and went to bed immediately. I had school the next day (ugh) and had to wake up at 6:30. Sigh. Back to reality!
Well, that’s all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this series. It’s taken a while for me to get it up, so thanks for sticking with me and continuing to read. Sicily was the first place I’ve visited outside of the country. I think it will always hold a special place in my heart, not only because I’m 1/4 Sicilian myself, but because it was the first major travel experience I’ve had. I also got to go with my grandpa, aunt, and uncle, which was just the best. I hope to return someday and explore other areas of this special place.
I also have some exciting news: I will be going back to Italy in just a couple weeks! This time I’m going to a small town called Narni in the region of Umbria. I won a scholarship to go study the Italian language and culture for two weeks in July. I am so grateful for my Italian teacher for giving me this opportunity and for my Arizona aunt & uncle for helping with plane fare. I can’t believe I get to go back! I’m a bit nervous, but I cannot wait to share it all on here. I’ll post updates soon!
As always, thanks for following along.
studio josie 