I was a bit taken aback when we checked out of the hotel this moning to find out that they were charging us 28 euros for bicycle parking - for allowing us to chain our bikes to a rack in an uncovered, rather insecure garage space. This is probably the only place we've stayed in Sicily that I wouldn't recommend (oh, wait - there was the odd place in Sciacca that charged us for a bottle of water, even though their tap water was unpotable).
Biking out of Catania to the east was every bit as confusing as arrival from the west and from the north. Possibly arrival by sea from the south would work well, but from our experience anyway I really can't recommend Catania as a cycling destination. After fumbling our way through the streets near the duomo, we were excited to come across a seaside bike lane - but it died out in around a mile, and left us back on the busy coast highway.
But enough about Catania. Once we got five miles or so east of town the riding conditions improved significantly. We really enjoyed biking along the coast, passing through the Aci towns - Aci Castiello, then Aci Trezza, then Acireale. These towns are named after the mythological Shepard Acis, who fell in love with Galatea but was then dismembered by the cyclops in his jealous rage after Galatea rejected him. At Acireale we broke for lunch, stopping at an attractive cafe.
A bit beyond Acireale we came upon the best riding of the day, on very quiet, very flat roads that followed the coast until Giardino Naxos - the last coastal towm before Taormina.
We took the back door entrance into Taormina, which we quickly concluded was an awful approach to town. Look at today's map and tomorrow's, and learn from our mistakes. Today's approach starts on a very minor street, that carries virtually no traffic because it is so blastedlly steep. After a full day on the road, who needs to deal with a mile of 12-15% grades on rough roads at the end of the day?
Taormina has a very beautiful setting, overlooking the brilliant blue sea and wonderful views of nearby Mount Etna - which we are thrilled to be able to see at the end of day, after a week of overcast skies or miasmic haze. We are staying at the very pleasant and reasonable Victoria Hotel, an old place with a noteworthy history - this is where Oscar Wilde resided for a month when he visited Sicily for a month in 1898. History notwithstanding, it's a great place that compares very well against our room in Catania. They assigned our bikes to an indoor lobby, leaned against a fine old piece of furniture, and carried Rachael's bike up to it. Twice.
Total elevation gain: today, 2,400'; for the tour, 61,800'.
Our hotel charged us 7 euros to park our bikes in the lot - per bike, per night. Unannounced until checkout. Oh, and it was uncovered, so they got a bit wet in last night's rain.
We were so excited to come across this great bike path carrying us along the coast out of Catania. Our excitement lasted all of one mile, when we were dumped back on the coastal highway.
We were lucky to pass through Acireale when a wedding was just concluding, so that we could enter the church and see it's beautiful organ. A few minutes later they locked the doors.
