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The Sicily Serenade
The Sicilian town of Taormina virtually sculpted into a terrace of Monte Tauro had none of the anarchic traffic or the wild rhythms of a Rome or Naples. Largely, a vehicle-free town, this glitzy Italian resort sits serenely, meditatively facing Greece across the sea. This is not a run-ofthe- mill romantic getaway. Its special magic comes from its dark history and gorgeous location.

The cobble-stoned main street — Corso Umberto I — was lined with cafes, bars and hops selling everything from trinkets to high fashion garments and accessories. Sleepy dead-end streets, some so narrow that two pedestrians crossing each other would find it a squeeze, drained into the main toroughfare like tributaries.

Fountains gushed into yawning town squares where tall cypresses provided welcome shade and churches looked down benevolently at street artists who filled their courtyards with the sound of happy music. Lovers strolled, arms entwined, occasionally seeking the world in each other’s eyes. After walking under numerous wroughtiron balconies dressed up in flowers, and past ornate streetlamps, we arrived at the ruins of the Graeco-Roman amphitheatre. With a little imagination, we could see ourselves being emotionally moved by a Greek tragedy and hear the roar of the crowd as gladiators fought to death.


From the higher strata of the semicircular theatre built into a natural fold in the land, we had a spectacular panoramic view of the Ionian Sea on one side and the rugged towering mountains on the other. The sense of peace and quiet that Taormina exuded was in many ways deceptive for it stood in a land that was anything, but tranquil. For right in the centre of the island is Mt Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano. Like a very temperamental lady, she is known to blow her top with little or no warning, like she did in 1983.

Yes, the island of Sicily that forms the toe of the Italian boot is land that is peaceful on the surface, but simmers and rumbles with undercurrents and that is what makes it mysteriously romantic.
For more information contact Italian Tourism
(ENIT) in Mumbai: Tel: (022) 24368186 Email: enit@indiaitaly.com TRAVEL

Tioman Island in the Sun After a rollercoaster ride on the choppy waters of the South China Sea, the terra firma of Tioman, off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia felt like paradise. In a shrinking world, tantalising destinations are hard to find. Tioman is one such place; a fantastic getaway if you want romance on the rocks; walking barefoot on fine grain sand and under swaying palms; swimming in postcardblue Baywatch seas and watching sunsets that flare spectacularly on schedule.

Largely undeveloped with just one luxury resort Berjaya Tioman Beach, Golf and Spa Resort, and a few budget ones, this is the destination of the international beach cognoscenti, a hideaway in the purest sense of the term where one can play golf, swim, scuba dive, snorkel, go boating, kayaking, windsurfing or embark on a forest trek. One can also luxuriate in the hotel spa and enjoy any number of activities at the resort or just chill and play ‘footsie’ in the sand! There are no roads on the island and the eight or so villages each have a special atmosphere and are accessible via ferry. The island is so compact that you can master its geography in a while. Most of the coastal villages, comprising a few houses and perhaps a lone café, offer stunning, goon- forever sandy stretches for swimming, and from the southernmost village, Mukut, one can see the Twin Peaks or Dragon’s Horns towering into a blue sky.

This is a place where nature reigns supreme and people seem almost allergic to modernity; there are no discos, opportunities to shop are minimal, and nightlife is restricted to the hotel. Yet when we were there, Tioman milled with honeymooners seeking a charmed idyll. After a few days of unruffled solitude, we were reluctant to leave a place where each morning, we awoke to bird song, a gently lapping jade-green sea, and the sigh of cool wind through the trees. Here, as nowhere else, we felt that fleeting sensation of floating through life in slow motion. For more information contact Malayasia Tourism Board Email:
tmmumbai@tmindia.net or mtpb.mumbai@tourism.gov.my
Web: www.tourism.gov.my

Tioman Island in the Sun After a rollercoaster ride on the choppy waters of the South China Sea, the terra firma of Tioman, off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia felt like paradise. In a shrinking world, tantalising destinations are hard to find. Tioman is one such lace; a fantastic getaway if you want romance on the rocks; walking barefoot on fine grain sand and under swaying palms; swimming in postcardblue Baywatch seas and watching sunsets that flare spectacularly on schedule.

Largely undeveloped with just one luxury resort Berjaya Tioman Beach, Golf and Spa Resort, and a few budget ones, this is the destination of the international beach cognoscenti, a hideaway in the purest sense of the term where one can play golf, swim, scuba dive, snorkel, go boating, kayaking, windsurfing or embark on a forest trek. One can also luxuriate in the hotel spa and enjoy any number of activities at the resort or just chill and play ‘footsie’ in the sand! There are no roads on the island and the eight or so villages each have a special atmosphere and are accessible via ferry. The island is so compact that you can master its geography in a while. Most of the coastal villages, comprising a few houses and perhaps a lone café, offer stunning, goon- forever sandy stretches for swimming, and from the southernmost village, Mukut, one can see the Twin Peaks or Dragon’s Horns towering into a blue sky. This is a place where nature reigns supreme and people seem almost allergic to modernity; there are no discos, opportunities to shop are minimal, and nightlife is restricted to the hotel. Yet when we were there, Tioman milled with honeymooners seeking a charmed idyll.

After a few days of unruffled solitude, we were reluctant to leave a place where each morning, we awoke to bird song, a gently lapping jade-green sea, and the sigh of cool wind through the trees. Here, as nowhere else, we felt that fleeting sensation of floating through life in slow motion.

For more information contact Malayasia Tourism Board Email: tmmumbai@tmindia.net or mtpb.mumbai@tourism.gov.my Web: www.tourism.gov.my Into the Deep End of Mauritius Landing in Mauritius is like gate-crashing a honeymooners’ convention! This tropical isle of achingly beautiful beaches, lapped by sapphire swells and rimmed with gentle green hills, brims with romance. Enveloped in the quiet that honeymooners and lovers seek, this isle of beauty is one of the most charmed places on earth. It offers its visitors multiple options from lolling on milkwhite sands in a cloud of togetherness, exploring some of its green-gold facets to embarking on some aqua-based adventure.

Here one can scuba dive into a coral garden alive with exotic fish, ride a water scooter into this aqua wonder world, have a close encounter of the marine kind on an undersea walk… For ultimately Mauritius is about water– it’s everywhere – shimmering in the distance, wrapping itself around you in a warm comforting embrace; one feels adrift in it, and swallowed up by the sheer immensity of it… And water of course is at the heart of a lot of fun.

One evening as we sat at the poolside bar of our hotel, Le Telfair Golf and Spa Resort, we saw guests windsurfing, parasailing, scuba diving, and snorkeling forming colourful arabesques above and below the ocean. Others canoodled in the sand, held hands and exchanged promises of undying love.

Take time out and go on a sweeping tour of the island for bonding of another kind. Shop in the modern malls in the capital city of Port Louis; at Chamarel, the rich green gown of vegetation that covered most of the island has been ripped apart to expose a gash of earth painted with a rainbow of subtle colours - purples, golds, reds, yellows and browns. North of Chamarel is the Trou Aux Cerfs volcanic crater, its fiery heart now dead and doused in water.

But eventually it is the ocean that beckons and it is hard to resist its siren call — the gold scimitar of the beach glowing under a sinking sun, the elusive fragrance of a rainwashed breeze… This is truly a paradise without the proverbial serpent. And what’s more, there are quiet stretches where you have it all to yourself. For more information, contact Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority Tel: (011) 23319804 Email: mtpaindia@tracrep.
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