Another transfer day. We got up super early to walk the 1 km back to the station with our bags. The plan was the 06:27 replacement bus. In the dawn light we were the only people on the square, and we started wondering what the odds were of a bus actually showing up — the board inside the terminal listed the first replacement bus as 06:57.

Agrigento Centrale station lit up before dawn with an empty square in front of it

Lo and behold, one arrived close to 06:27, and we were the only passengers to get on. A few individuals joined at later stops, but by Roccapalumba there were maybe six of us in total.

Caro alone in the back of the empty replacement bus from Agrigento

Agrigento on its hillside at first light, seen from the replacement bus

The train to Catania was delayed by 50 minutes, so we missed our connection there and had to wait for the next one. We only got into Taormina-Giardini at about 13:30. From there we waited another 40 minutes for a bus, but it went all the way up to Castelmola instead of making us change at the Taormina bus terminal. We finally arrived at 15:00 against a planned arrival of around 12:00 — which would have meant waiting three hours for check-in anyway.

Morning light on the dry inland hills of Sicily on the way to Roccapalumba

Hugo working on his laptop on the train across Sicily

The platform at Taormina-Giardini station below its rocky headland

Castelmola sits on a rock about 530 m above the sea, roughly 300 m higher than Taormina, with the remains of a Norman castle on top and one winding road up to it. Looking out of the bus window Caro saw houses on top of a rock and didn’t expect that was where we were heading.

We struggled to find the apartment at first. GPS is unreliable in the narrow walking streets, and we only watched the instruction video the host had sent on WhatsApp later. A lady was still finishing the cleaning. She was super friendly but couldn’t speak English, so she phoned her husband, an elderly gentleman. They appear to be the parents of the host we had been in contact with.

They showed us everything in the narrow three-storey apartment, and then he mentioned that saying we stay with them gets us 10% off at most places in town. He mentioned gelato, and Caro said yes please, I want it now. So he walked us the 300 m to a place while his wife finished up. Plenty of locals greeted him along the way. At the gelato shop he said his goodbyes. We got pistachio and walked back to the apartment, which was now ready.

Hugo did some work until 18:00. Then we went out to explore Castelmola and up to the castle viewpoint. Mt Etna was covered in cloud, so we stayed a while, and eventually the peak was revealed. It didn’t smoke.

The view from Castelmola down over Taormina, Isola Bella and the sea

The ruined stone arch and steps at the entrance to the castle at Castelmola
Looking straight down from the castle onto the hairpin road into Castelmola

The patterned paving of Piazza Sant'Antonio in Castelmola above the sea

The sun going down behind the mountains inland from Castelmola

Hugo and Caro at the Castelmola viewpoint at sunset

For dinner we went to the recommended pizza place, Pizzeria Nina, with our 10% discount. Caro ordered the Monte Venere, a pizza with boiled egg on it. Hugo tried the Antica Mola, a pasta made with the local almond wine, “il Blandanino”. It tasted like marzipan and was quite sweet — interesting to try, but different from what we expected.

The Monte Venere pizza with boiled egg, ham, mushrooms and olives at Pizzeria Nina
The Antica Mola pasta with almond wine and chopped almonds at Pizzeria Nina

Up on the mountain it got quite cool, and for the first time in weeks we needed long sleeves.