There is a group of tourist destinations throughout Europe that I like to refer to as the Instagram Girls of the Grand Tour.
You can find these destinations in every corner of the continent, but no matter how large the distance between any two such destinations may be, you will find that they have more in common with each other than with their frumpier neighbouring towns.
A Date with Kim Kardashian?
There is always a core of real beauty (whatever you may think about the Instagram Girls of this or of the flesh-and-blood variety (it is rare to see one that is really ugly), but in the development around this core, something has … well, gone somewhat wrong.
There is always too much make-up. Too much careful thought has gone into hairstyling and fingernails, and there may have been one too many visits to the beauty surgeon.
There is that same mix of self-absorption and needy craving, which has induced the Instagram Girls to weed out anything that could have made them interesting rather than merely pretty.
Visiting Instagram Girl destinations is what I imagine a date with Kim Kardashian to be like. Once you have expressed your admiration for her obvious beauty, you may find that there is not much to say.
Another problem that Taormina has is the sheer number of visitors. You may come across the very same people in the streets of Catania, but in a town with 300,000 permanent inhabitants, they get lost more easily.
Taormina’s centro storico, conversely, feels overrun by sight-seers – even in late October and in a country that was (at the time) in the full grip of a pandemic, subject to curfews and shop closures.
We could not help wondering what Taormina would be like in the middle of the tourist season, let’s say in the summer of 2021, provided the number of cases continues to fall.
The reason why most visitors come here is the ancient Greek theatre. There are more storied Greek theatres around the Mediterranean and larger ones, too (Taormina’s is not even the largest in Sicily: that honour belongs to Siracusa), but few can compete with the site’s dramatic scenery.
Little wonder that it is still much in demand among for theatrical and operatic performances (pandemic allowing).
The irony is that, in a region and in a town which pride themselves so much on their Greek heritage, the theatre is the most visible piece of their Roman rather than their Hellenistic ancestry. (The ancient Greeks did not use brick for public buildings of this size.)
It seems, however, that a Greek theatre once stood on the site before the Romans built theirs and may have served as a structural blueprint.
There are other things to see in Taormina such as the Isola Bella, a tiny island which has been a nature reserve for almost 200 years.
And if you feel like climbing up rather than climbing down to the seafront, you can make your way to Castelmola Castle (of which only ruins remain) that has been sitting perched on a mountain top high above the town for over 1,000 years.
But even if you do not feel like leaving Taormina proper, there are many things to see – including San Giuseppe, the town’s main church, which provides an attractive and popular motive for pictures of all kinds.
For most visitors, Taormina may be just one more place to visit and photograph, but these two will remember their appointment with San Giuseppe for the rest of their lives.
Top on the list of in-town sites, however, are the Trevelyan Gardens.
These gardens – nowadays the Giardino Pubblico of Taormina – were originally the playground of Lady Florence Trevelyan who had left Victorian England in her mid-30s after a romantic disappointment.
Some people say that Lady Trevelyan had an affair with the Prince of Wales (later to become Edward VII) and that she – the daughter of a mere baronet – was banned from court by Queen Victoria who disapproved of the relationship.
About a year after her arrival in Taormina, Lady Trevelyan married the scion of a prominent local family (a doctor with whom she had bonded over her love for stray dogs).
She then lost a son in childbirth and subsequently dedicated most of her time to her beloved sub-tropical gardens, embellishing them through the years with architectural follies.
Lady Trevelyan was also the original owner of the Isola Bella, but her “town garden” became the place where she preferred to spend her time, sitting in one of the ornamental buildings while observing wild birds and sipping her tea.
The gardens are not large (280 m long with a maximum width of 70 m) but contain many features and are crisscrossed by narrow pathways that ensure you will always see something new …
… or something you may have seen a few minutes ago but from a totally different angle, so there is always something fresh and unexpected to enjoy.
It is easy to spend well over an hour here without getting bored.
Walking around alone is a wonderful experience, flanked by the vistas of the sea …
… as well as views over town and country.
There is quite a lot to see in Taormina, but the town is worth the trip for these gardens alone, their lushness, surreal architecture and panoramic views.
