South of France (and Taormina) Trip Summary

If you followed along my journal entries for my trip through some of the south of France and read the last post from Nice, you’ll know that after leaving the south of France, I travelled to Taormina, Sicily, Italy. In that last post from Nice, I mentioned that I didn’t know if I’d post anything from Taormina because I’d be spending my time there visiting close relatives who are staying in Taormina for a couple of months this winter. I don’t usually blog about my time with relatives.

Because I wasn’t sure if I’d post anything, I said I’d reserve my trip summary until later and post a summary of my time in the south of France as a separate entry if there were no posts from Taormina to append it to.

As I write these first few paragraphs in this entry, I’m sitting in the Catania airport (about an hour from Taormina), awaiting the first of two flights that, if all goes well, will whisk me back home to Toronto. I’ll probably finish this post during my trip, possibly posting it in my connection city, Frankfurt, or, if not there, when I get back home. (I could splurge for wifi on the plane, but I likely won’t. We’ll see.) As it happens, I didn’t post any entries from Taormina. This is the promised summary post about my time in the south of France.)

But First, Taormina

But first, before summarizing my time in the south of France, I should say a few words about Taorminia because I love it. It’s gorgeous. I had been in Taormina on a previous trip. That was for only two days, one of which was mostly rainy. I didn’t do much that day. The second day was somewhat sunny. I did more that day, but it was an all too short stay.

Mount Etna is close to Taormina. When it’s not obscured by clouds, the view of it from Taormina is glorious. During that first trip, clouds blocked it most of the time. I caught shrouded glimpses of portions of the mountain in gaps in the clouds on the second day. But I never got a full view of it.

On that earlier trip, I also stayed in Catania for a while and took a tour up Mount Etna as far as the roads go, with the option to take a gondola ride up closer to the summit. But Etna was blanketed with a pea-soup fog that day. I didn’t bother with the gondola. Even though I was a good way up Etna, I still couldn’t see the summit.

This time, I was in Taormina for five nights, four full days and a bit. My relatives had an apartment with a large picture window and a balcony facing Etna. And it had a great view of a large chunk of the seacoast, off to the side of Etna. When I arrived in Taormina, it was cloudy, with a few drops of rain. Etna was hiding then. The next day, there were some clouds, but I saw much of Etna. During the final three days in Taormina, Etna basked in the sun. The mountain stood proudly before me, presenting a commanding sight. Sunsets behind Etna were incredible.

But Etna is not all there is to Taormina. It’s a lovely place, with a quaint old town, great views of the sea, Etna, and the surrounding hills. One of those hills is behind Taormina, really a continuation uphill of the hill that holds Taormina. At the top of that hill, there’s a smaller town, Castlemola, that has even higher views, and a few ruins of an old castle.

Taormina has a large, ancient amphitheatre that was originally Greek. When the Romans moved into town, it fell under new management. The Romans made extensive renovations to it. Etna is clearly visible from inside the theatre from the upper tiers of the seats. Even lower down, these days, there’s a gap in what was the wall behind the stage. It nicely frames Etna from the lower seating tiers if you’re in the right location. It’s a stunning sight.

In addition to the amphitheatre, there’s a small Roman odeon tucked elsewhere in Taormina. I saw the large amphitheatre the first time I was in Taormina, but I don’t remember seeing the odeon then. It’s not much, but it is well worth taking a look at as an ancient Roman ruin.

There’s a fabulous public park in Taormina. It has beautiful landscaping with trees, shrubs and flowers, a couple of quaint parallel brick and stone paths, and absolutely breathtaking views out along the coast near Taormina. A week or two before I arrived in Taormina, a storm caused some damage to the park. It had been closed for a while. But when I was there, they’d cleaned a lot of it up, and more than half of it was reopened.

Coincidentally, this trip was the first time I was in the park. When I was in Taormina on my previous visit, it had been closed for maintenance. I could see through the gate that it looked beautiful, but I couldn’t go in. It taunted me then, but it allowed me to stroll through much of it this time.

That storm that had damaged the park also damaged the railway on the other side of Taormina from Catania. In that direction, the train goes to Messina, and from there, offers connections elsewhere. Buses still ran, but they were at inconvenient times, or nonexistent to some destinations. Consequently, I spent my whole time in Taormina, without venturing out of town other than to Castelmola.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Taormina, especially with my relatives. People can be really nice when they’re really nice. I wouldn’t have complained if I’d booked more time there to just kick back.

Because I didn’t post any entries during my time in Taormina, I’ll post pictures from there in this entry, including in the section below about the south of France, not Taormina.

South of France Summary

My primary objective for this trip, which occurred entirely in February, was to escape some of Toronto’s winter so I could bear the rest of it. I fulfilled my objective as far as escaping some of Toronto’s winter. I’ll see if I can bear what’s left of it.

I had some rain during this trip, but I also had some great days. It was never warm, but it was also never so cool that I couldn’t be comfortable in a long-sleeve shirt and a light jacket, and occasionally a light sweater as an intermediate layer. I enjoy walking around when I travel, and it was a perfect temperature for that. There were even a few hours when I took off my jacket and made do with just the long-sleeve shirt.

There are other cities and towns in the south of France that would have also made for a great trip, but my choice of Marseille, Arles, and Nice was a great one.

Marseille is an enjoyable city with an interesting old town and lots to see and do. I took a couple of day trips from Marseille; one to Cassis and the other to Aix-en-Provence.

Cassis is a beautiful seaside town and well worth the visit. A couple of days, or more, in Cassis would have been pleasant just to relax there. Plus, there are walks along the dramatic coves on that portion of the south of France coast, the Calanques, that start from Cassis. I hiked some of that. It challenged my acrophobia and a few other fears at a couple of points. Nevertheless, I would have appreciated more Calanque hiking time too.

Aix-en-Provence, or commonly known as just Aix, is an inland city, not a town. I spent most of my day there in its old town. It is a very pleasing city, with sights to see, and great, interesting, and at many points quaint streets to walk along. I could imagine myself spending at least a couple of nights in Aix and having a good time there.

With my day trips to Cassis and Aix, I filled my seven nights (six and a bit days) in Marseille splendidly. I don’t think I would have gotten bored if I had a few more days there, including some more day trips.

I spent only three and a half days (four nights) in Arles, and I loved all of it. I had a good sense that I would because this wasn’t my first time in Arles. I’d been there years ago, before starting this journal. Arles doesn’t have the sea, but it has so much else—the Rhone River, a lovely old town, Roman ruins, and lots of references to Vincent van Gogh, who spent a couple of years there. He was quite artistically prolific during his time in Arles. And that’s despite spending time in a hospital recuperating from chopping off one of his earlobes.

I didn’t take any day trips from Arles. A couple would have been possible. So, more time in Arles to enjoy the city and get a ways out of it, would have been great.

After Arles, I went to Nice. I’d never been there before. It’s a shame that I hadn’t been because I loved it. I spent six and a bit days in Nice, seven nights. I took two day trips from there, one to Cannes and one to Monte Carlo, Monaco. Even with the day trips, I ran out of “things to do” in Nice, but it was so beautiful that more time just enjoying it would have been fabulous.

And I enjoyed those day trips too. Cannes is another beautiful seaside city to explore. Monaco is a little bit quirky, and a phone problem I had there frustrated me, but it is, nevertheless, dramatically beautiful, with interesting and/or pleasant attractions to see. And more seaside towns are very easy and fast to visit as a day trip from Nice. More time in either Cannes or Monte Carlo, Monaco, and some time on those additional day trips, certainly wouldn’t have been a burden. Au contraire.

And that took me to Taormina.

February turned out to be a great time to take this trip. If you’re someone who loves the heat and can’t stand any coolness whatsoever, then February in the south of France and Taormina is probably not for you. But it didn’t take much layering, and sometimes just a single layer, to make it quite pleasant for me. (I never go out without at least a single layer. I’d have to be much more buff before I’d consider that even on a beach.)

And February has one great benefit. It’s the low season. Tourists hadn’t totally evacuated any of the places I visited on this trip, but no place was packed with crowds as they probably are in the high or even shoulder seasons.

That dearth of tourists also resulted in much lower hotel rates. I booked suites in both Marseille and Arles and paid less than I would have expected to pay for a regular room in the shoulder season, let alone the high season.

However, travelling in the low season does come with disadvantages. Some hotels, restaurants, and attractions close for the winter—not a lot, but some. And there are bus and boat tours that don’t run in then, much more so than the hotels, restaurants and attractions that close. Nevertheless, I found more than enough to see and do to fill my time pleasurably on this trip.

And so ends my time in the south of France and Taormina. I’m glad I came, and I’d like to get back to this part of the world sometime. I’m looking forward to my next trip, wherever that takes me.

By the way, I used my Aeroplan points (Air Canada’s frequent flier program) to buy wifi on my flight from Frankfurt to Toronto for a fraction of the points I’ll get for taking this trip. I’m posting this from almost 11,000 metres in the air over the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere between those two cities. Technology can often be frustrating, and it can sometimes be a threat to humanity, but it can also occasionally be outstanding. À bientot!