Sicily

September 29, 2008
Messina, Sicily

Another exciting day, more exciting places. I spent this morning escorting a tour entitled “Messina & Surroundings”. We spent a large portion of the four-hour tour in the bus, but unlike Saturday’s tour of Athens, the bus ride was exciting. We spent close to forty minutes driving up a long, curvy, narrow road to a point over 2,500 feet above sea level that offered both eastern and western panoramic views. The road was narrow enough that I thought it was a spacious one-way street until I watched a car squeeze between our bus and the other side of the road. Prior to coming to the top of the Chiarino “hill”, as it was called by my tour guide, I had thought the views I took in from the ground in Istanbul and from the hills in Yalta were going to be the best I would end up seeing during this voyage; however, I was very wrong. Every time the bus turned a different corner, a different Kodak moment arose. I did my best to capitalize on the opportunities, but it did start to rain and random roadside items such as guardrails or power lines seemed intent on ruining what would otherwise be a perfect photograph. On the way down from the top of the mountain, despite the incredible amount of clouds in the sky and the resulting low visibility, the Stromboli volcano (still active) showed itself to me in the distance. It is the first volcano I have ever seen and even though it was so far away, I could still see the smoke coming out of the top. Unfortunately, as the bus descended more and more, the volcano decided to go back into hiding. I was able to snap a decent photo of it prior to its disappearance though.

Our next sightseeing stop on the tour after the mountain top was the Museo Regionale di Messina, a small museum containing works by Caravaggio and Antonello di Messina and other interesting paintings from the Baroque era as well. It was the first museum I have visited since starting my contract on the Queen Victoria, and while it was nice to visit, I am beginning to realize I much prefer to see things that are more of a landmark (e.g. the Acropolis or an old temple or mosque) than a museum. On the other hand, if the ship went to Paris, I would head straight to the Louvre without hesitation.

Our last stop on the tour was Cathedral Square, which houses a beautiful church and a very interesting clock tower as well. On one side of the tower is an astrological calendar, but on the front is an amazing display. Every day at noon, to the tune of Shubert’s Ave Maria, several golden characters start moving. It is tough to describe, but it looks like a fancy, jumbo-sized coo coo clock, though instead of the birds tweeting, there is a lion that roars and a rooster that goes cock-a-doodle-doo. After the display, we had enough time to enter the [massive] cathedral, which is over 500 years old and is built mostly with marble and a wooden ceiling. It was a true spectacle of beauty.

Tomorrow we will be in Civitavecchia, Italy, which is the closest port to Rome. It marks the end of my first voyage on the Queen Victoria. The plan at present is to visit the Sistine Chapel, and hopefully, the Coliseum as well.