Sunday 06 November – Messina, Sicily, Italy. Just three miles off the coast of southern Italy’s mainland is the port town of Messina on the island of Sicily. We arrived in port about 1 PM, and slowly worked our way to the mooring.
As we entered Messina harbor we saw an impressive golden statue whose complete inscription I didn’t capture, and whose meaning I didn’t write down. But its placement and the outstretched arm probably was to extend safety to all who sailed the seas. Even though we didn’t know its meaning, we felt that we were being invited in as family and friends.
While the ship was slowly working its way to its starboard mooring on the quiet Sunday afternoon, we were able to capture a nice telephoto view of a lovely cathedral in town. It’s a shame that we were going to be busy with an all-day tour, because as we found out later from other who just walked out into town, there was so much to see just by walking around. But as this was our first time in 60+ years to Sicily, and who knows when we’d ever get back here, we wanted to go to Mt. Aetna.
Once we left the ship, and we boarded the motor coach for our tour “Taste of Sicily: Mt. Aetna & Taormina.”We drove through the villages of Santa Venerina and Zafferana that were quiet of course on Sunday afternoon; it was siesta time. Once we were able to get out of the blockage of hills and buildings, the largest active volcano in Europe came into view. With clouds whipping around and with a topping of snow, the peak of Mt. Aetna wasn’t necessarily impressive. But when you took in the massive size of the entire mountain, it was tremendous.
We reached our destination – no, we weren’t going to the top of Mt. Aetna, that would be another 3-hour gondola ride – Silvestri Spent Craters, at an altitude of about 6,400 feet above sea level. They’re called spent craters because they are no longer active. We stepped out of the comfortable coach and we were almost blown away, literally. The wind was blowing at least 60 miles per hour, and it was a cold wind. As we walked around the top of the one crater, completely exposed, it felt as if it were 40 degrees (Fahrenheit, mind you) or colder, combined with that 60 mph wind. It was interesting, but Darlene was also happy to get inside the restaurant and stand in front of the fireplace to get warm.
Happy to leave the cold and wind of Silvestri Craters, we got back into the coach for our ride back down the mountain to the tourist town of Taormina. This little town is a walled town that does not allow motor traffic, although it appears to be a little lax for scooters, and certainly delivery vehicles must be allowed. We strolled around and saw plenty of high-end shops and places to leave lots of Euros (we were able to resist the temptation), and what really surprised us was how many people and how many families were out at night. Darlene did have a chocolate ice cream, pretty good I was told. We took notice of this little side road that would be overlooked except for the three tables. If we had time, I think that would have been a lovely place to stop for dinner and a glass of local wine; it looked so charming.
It was time to get back on the coach and get back to the ship before it pulled of port here in Messina. We were on the ship by 8:15. We had dinner at 9 PM (until 10:45) with George and Tawni.
Arrivederci, Italia!
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