The Godfather.....

Since we've been here people have asked, "Have you been to Taorimina yet? It's beautiful there." Well, we finally made it and they were right. It is beautiful. The shoreline, the town, the Greek theatre/Roman Ampitheater (there's a story behind the slash too long to tell right now)...no, on second thought here it is.

A few hundred years ago, the Greeks built huge theatres in Sicily and put on their plays (tragedies). When they were pushed out by the Romans, their interest in entertainment varied a bit from the Greeks. They tore out half of the theatre and made it into an ampitheater with holding pens at the side for the lions--(and maybe locker rooms for the gladiators). Anyway, the same place served both groups at different times, thus the slash. Here's a picture of what it looks like today.

We were fascinated by the town and actually did a bit of Christmas shopping there (oops, let the cat out of the bag)------we don't have a cat-----Anyone need a puppy?

The place that really fascinated us, though, was Savaco. A tiny little town with probably four big churches. A path went between the churches and the town (what little there was of it). They have very few tourists in that little town but those who come there have the opportunity to see the very church that Al Pacino and company walked out of in "The Godfather" movie. The wedding of the Pacino character was done in that church and the procession went out of the church and down the pathway where we walked to a little bar that was also in the movie.
Bob rented the movie yesterday and, sure enough, there was the church and the path. We could say, "We were there."

Aside from that, the town is quiet and picturesque with many places for great pictures.