Villa Galante where are you?

It took the cab driver 45 minutes to reach Taormina centre. We had given him the adress of B&B Villa Galante, but no way he could find it. Eventually I had to call Rose, the owner of Villa Galante, to hand over my mobile to the driver to explain the way to the villa in perfect Italian. Turn right at Porta Messina, turn right under Porta Cappucino, follow Fontana Vecchia into Via Francesco Atenasio. Just when we thought we again had to call Rose, we saw the sign: Villa Galante! Oh my, we´re almost there. The driver took the turn right in the private road which ends at the villa and here we stood in front of the gates. It looked beautiful. With a buzz the gate opened and we took our suitcases up a long stairway on to the terrace of Villa Galante.

Up on the terrace Michael, Rose´s husband was waiting for us. He was surprised we had arrived by cab. Hadn´t we written to him in August, we would rent a car? How could he know we´d changed our plans in the last month and we wanted to take three excursions with the SAT excursions organization, so we wouldn´t be needing a car for our five days stay? If we had let him know, he would have arranged a transfer for us from the airport. Aaah well, so much for planning ahead! It would have saved us some 20 euros on the drive.

Michael showed us the Seaview room with terrace and it was beautiful. Tastefully decorated, with a microwave and fridge. Complementary milk and water and a great bathroom, with marble tiles. We felt privileged indeed.

(review will follow later). Tamar was eager to login on her laptop, so Michael provided her with a wifi key. Free internet? I remember hotels where we paid 10 euro for 30 minutes! And much to our surprise we found an email from the SAT organization, that they would be open untill 19.30 hrs. If we wanted to partake on the excursion to Mount Etna next morning, we would be welcome. Tamar decided to let me handle the booking and stay in the villa to unpack. Don´t get lost on your way back, mom! No, darling, I´ll be back in an hour. At 19.00 o´clock I walked out of the villa, and I followed the signs to the centre of Taormina, to the famous Umberto Corso. We had already decided on which excursions we wanted to take, so by 19.30 hrs the booking was arranged. And now for the walk back. I had a map of Taormina with me, provided by Michael, so I knew which direction I had to take. And the villa is up on the mountain, right, so if I keep on walking up, I will get there. I guess? Was it this dark when I walked towards the city centre? Why can´t I recognize anything? Why aren´t there any people on the street? And I definitely didn´t see a police garage on my way down! Aiuto! In perfect Italian the nice policeman tried to explain that he didn´t know Villa Galante. And it definitely wasn´t arround here. His gesturing a big no with his head did help make me understand. Where did I get myself into? Of course I let the taxidriver keep the paper with the adress of Villa Galante on it. By then the first txt message from my daughter arrived. Yeah, she does know me and my sense of direction too. I didn´t want to let her know yet, I had no clue on where I was. So I walked back down again to Umberto Corso to try again. Again up, there was no other way up, the other way went down and I was sure I had to go up! So here we go again. An hotel receptionist looked at the map I showed him and told me I had indeed to go up and make a turn up some big stairs before the police station. I called my daughter to let her know I, again, had lost all sense of direction, and would take the stairs up, following the directions of the receptionist. I hadn´t seen any stairs on my way down, though. It was by now 20.30 hrs and I really, really wanted to get my shoes off. It was dark, the houses seemed deserted next to the steps and just as I passed a balcony a big dog sprang against the fence of the balcony. I was caught between a dead end, a construction site and a dog, who definitely wasn´t used to late night visitors.

Walking down the steps again I decided for the second time that day to call for the help of Rose. The moment she heard where I was and how long I had been walking around she told me I was only a five minute walk away from the villa. I just had to take the street down on the right, instead of the left one up. After a turn in the street the Via Francesco Atenasio would take me up again. But she would gladly take the car and pick me up. No way I would let her do that! After one and a half hour walk, I would take myself up to the villa. My pride was hurt as it was anyway. Again totally lost... my daughter would be laughing over this for ages! Almost two hours were lost in a stupid attempt to find my own way. I should know better than even trying. But boy was I glad to see the sign Villa Galante again. The hot coffee that awaited me didn´t hurt either. Thank you Tamar, for knowing just what I needed that moment!