Today was our free day in Taormina.  I’ll do another post about our walk at Mt Etna national park yesterday but today’s excitement was that today’s stage of the Giro d’Italia passed through Taormina.

Conveniently, the climb into the town passed near the end of our street. We got there about an hour early but it didn’t take long for a small crowd to form.  And you are very close to the riders – no safety barriers here! At the corner we were on there was a lone local policeman keeping spectators off the road, managing traffic and directing the larger advance vehicles around a very tight corner.

It’s quite a production with sponsors’ vehicles plastered with ads and blasting music, team advance cars, lots of polizia on motorbikes, roving merchandise vans and helicopters before the cyclists even arrive. And after come more team cars with lots of expensive bikes on their roofs and finally, bringing up the rear is a fleet of ambulances!

No idea who’s winning but here are some pics!