Day 20 – Sicily: Bam Bar, Isola Bella, and Morgana
We woke up and enjoyed our morning view of Taormina from our Airbnb. It is so beautiful here I will never grow tired of this view. We walked to Bam Bar for a traditional Sicilian breakfast – granita and brioche. Granita is a refreshing Italian treat, similar to sorbet but definitely better, and Bam Bar is supposed to have the best. We ordered 2 coffee & almond granitas with cream on top and brioche on the side. It was so delicious and refreshing. We also got 2 cappuccinos for our caffeine fix and the total was only 18 euro for breakfast. I can’t believe I waited this long on our Sicilian trip to try Granita but I’m also happy my first experience of it was at Bam Bar. I’m curious if any other places will compare.
After breakfast we walked 30 minutes to the beach of Isola Bella. You had the option to either take the cable car down or walk – but Stelios and I both love to walk, especially where there is so much to see, so we opted for the staircase journey on the way down. From the top it didn’t seem that far away, but the walk down took longer than expected. By the time we reached the beach we were hot, sweaty, and ready to dive into the crystal clear blue water. We took the path that lead to Isola Bella which required us to walk through the water knee deep. The path was a mix of rocky sand and straight rocks, so I was thankful for my waterproof Reef sandals. We swam around in the water and then decided to go explore the house that was built into the island. It was 5€ a person to enter the house and explore, and it was definitely worth it.
Travel Tip: To enter the Isola Bella house/museum you need a full cover up on, you can’t enter in just a bathing suit top & shorts. I also recommend water shoes or my personal favorite Reef Water Vista Sandal as it is very rocky.
It was truly incredible that someone had essentially built a villa into the rock of the island. The house was huge, and even used to have a pool. We learned that island was purchased by a woman named Florence Trevelyan who we later found out pioneered quite a few large projects in Taormina in the 1800s. I thought it was really cool because women in history (especially back then) were rarely highlighted or given full credit for their accomplishments. But the museum made it clear that Florence was the driving force behind both the completion of Isola Bella and the Taormina gardens.
After touring Isola Bella we sat at Mendolia Beach Club and shared a pizza and 2 beach bombas for dessert (which was essentially a chocolate and pistachio granita, but the Bam Bar granita was still the best). After lunch we went for a swim and laid on the rocks which didn’t last long. I definitely prefer sandy beaches over rocky beaches for laying out in the sun. There were some local masseuses walking around offering massages so I figured why not – I got a 15 minute foot massage for 10 euro.
Once we had enough of the sun we got ready to make the trek back up the stairs to the top of town. For some reason the walk up didn’t seem as long as the walk down, and we even took a few water breaks along the way. We took a different path back to the Airbnb that lead us through the Villa Cominale di Taormina (a public park and gardens) which were full of interesting structures also created by Florence Trevelyan that she used for bird watching and enjoying tea in the park.
By the time we got back to our Airbnb we jumped into the pool since we were both hot again from the walk back.
After lounging around at the villa, we showered off the salt from today’s dip in the ocean and got ready for our night out. We decided to go to Ristorante Al Duomo, a restaurant recommended by our Airbnb host. We didn’t have a reservation but since we were having an early dinner at 7:30pm we got lucky and were sat at a front row table outside overlooking the main square and duomo. We ordered 2 glasses of red wine, the appetizer special, Pasta all Norma, and Pistachio Pesto Tagliatelle. All were delicious!
After dinner we strolled through Taormina and passed by a city worker vacuuming the streets – I guess that’s how they keep it so clean and polished all the time. It was Saturday night and there were so many middle school and high school aged local kids walking around. Back home growing up we had Menlo Park Mall, but the children of Sicily have the streets of Taormina. They are definitely getting the better experience if you ask me.
As we continued to walk, we passed an alley next to a jewelry store where there were 3-4 macho looking security guards standing out front. We had passed them the night before also and I assumed they were security guards for the jewelry store but it was 11:30pm and the jewelry store was closed. Stelios and I were both curious what they were guarding so we went up to them and asked. It turns out there was a speakeasy cocktail bar down below called Morgana, so Stelios and I decided to check it out. The bar was very cool with a Gatsby like decor, several rooms inside with a DJ playing and an outdoor courtyard. It was fairly empty but we decided to stay for a drink and dance. By 12am the place started to fill up with locals ready to party. What a great find! At one point there were 2 older gentleman, probably in their 70s or early 80s, decked out in Dior and they had their own private table behind the dance floor. They were giving full on Godfather energy because people seemed to nod to them from afar as they walked in. Maybe they were the owners, or maybe they were just 2 rich Italians in Taormina, we’ll never know. We danced the rest of the night away & officially hit our new record of 30k steps in 24 hours by the time we got back to our Airbnb.
