Our original plan for the day was to visit Taormina. However, our Sicilian family members urged us to go to Gole Alcantara Botanical and Geological Park, too, since it was near Taormina.
It was beautiful walking through the park. There are different trails to follow to get to different activities. We stayed on the Alcantara Gorges Trail, but there were options to go to a beach, walk a Mediterranean garden trail, or enjoy a water spray park.
Walking through the plants garden, we made our way to the aromatics herb garden and to the prehistoric animals park.
Complete with a dinosaur.
As we walked, I loved seeing all the plants that are not normally seen at home and generally enjoyed taking a stroll with the family.
This very old olive tree was my absolute favorite on the whole trip. It just seemed like a magical plant where fairies live or elves visit (yeah ok Erica… stop day dreaming).
Anywho, looking into the gorge, there’s still evidence of the botanical park with flowers blooming over the side of the rock wall.
I’ll end the botanical portion of the park at “Love Terrace”. It was a lovely little area where you could write a love letter and put it in a mailbox. For us, it was just the last time our son willingly took a family photo.
Today’s Fortnum & Mason tea is Rose Pouchong. I opened number 3 on the advent calendar and kind of thought they forgot to fill the tea bag.
But I brewed the tea, and it is honestly amazing!
This fine grade Chinese black tea was naturally scented with fresh rose petals. Rose tea is hard to balance. Many times, the rose flavor is overpowering. With the small amount they put in the tea bag, the flavor is the perfect balance of rose. I think I would consider buying this in the future. Have a happy 22 days until Christmas!
Rory, Tea & Me 