Skip to content

April 12, 2012 – Messina, Sicily, Italy

April 12, 2012 – Messina, Sicily, Italy

Day 97

 

Sicily is another first for us. All I know about Sicily is that it is the birthplace of the Mafia – home of Don Corleone, and is the first place in Europe that George Patton was successful. If I remember correctly, it is this very town of Messina to which Georgie boy beat Montgomery, welcoming him to the city square with a band. Way to go George!
Prior to our arrival, we passed Mt Aetna, shown below, which I understand erupted the day after this picture was taken.

 

The first view of the city of Messina:

The entry to the Port of Messina is beautiful.

I think it means loosely, “may god bless your city” but I need Frances Gannon to tell me for sure.

Leaving the ship, we walked a couple of blocks to the city square, for coffee and canoles in this sidewalk restaurant.

The square was dominated by this Church, the Duomo, and its clock tower.

 

At high noon, the rooster crowed and the figures all revolved while the bells chimed.

 

 

After the clock performance, we jumped on the faithful “Hop On Hop Off” for a look at Messina. This bus turned out to be more of a hop on – stay on, so we did. Some of the sights, some identified and some not are shown below:

The Theater

 

How do you say Church on a Hill in Italian?

 

The view from the top – notice our ship?

 

Soldiers’ Monument

City Hall

 

After the bus tour ended, we took a walk and found a little restaurant for lunch.

Pizza and beer in Sicily – does it get any better than this. After lunch we rejoined the ship, preparing to sail for Naples. The weather is starting to turn cold & wet on us. We have been so lucky with the weather until now – I hope it holds.

 

This is the Costa Splendora, in port as we are leaving Messina.

And on to Naples

1 thought on “April 12, 2012 – Messina, Sicily, Italy

  • I’ve never been to Sicily. It looks great! I agree with your pizza+beer+Italy=:) Italy is my favorite place to visit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *