We woke up early enough to watch as we came into the harbor on Sicily. Jim spotted Mt. Etna through the clouds… I think I saw it, but then without my contacts it could have just been another cloud. The harbor has a tall column with a golden Madonna at the top that blesses all that enter the port - quite a lovely site with the sun shining on her. After about a 30 minute delay because a ferry was still in our berth we made it into port.
We had nothing planned here because the trip to Taormina didn’t seem worth it with 3 hours of bus ride and one hour to see the town. Also it is a Sunday so most of the local businesses and stores are closed except the souvenir shops which you can always find in any tourist destination.
We headed into town about 10:30 to see the clock tower at noon when all the mechanical scenes start working. Huge crowd by 11:45... Then again, there isn’t much else to see in Messina. Finally the clock struck 12 noon and then the Lion roared, the cock crowed and the religious scenes started moving.
I’m sure this would be a delightful area on any day other than Sunday because there were many local shops, restaurants and bars but only a couple were open so they were packed with waiting lines. It made a nice relaxing day with beautiful weather and nothing really pressing to do. We got back to the ship about 2:00 and had a buffet lunch and then settled down to read until sail away at 4:30.
Our cruise is coming to an end soon and I have mixed feelings; one part of me is ready to go home, and the other just wants to stay on the ship. More thoughts on this later.
We had nothing planned here because the trip to Taormina didn’t seem worth it with 3 hours of bus ride and one hour to see the town. Also it is a Sunday so most of the local businesses and stores are closed except the souvenir shops which you can always find in any tourist destination.
We headed into town about 10:30 to see the clock tower at noon when all the mechanical scenes start working. Huge crowd by 11:45... Then again, there isn’t much else to see in Messina. Finally the clock struck 12 noon and then the Lion roared, the cock crowed and the religious scenes started moving.I’m sure this would be a delightful area on any day other than Sunday because there were many local shops, restaurants and bars but only a couple were open so they were packed with waiting lines. It made a nice relaxing day with beautiful weather and nothing really pressing to do. We got back to the ship about 2:00 and had a buffet lunch and then settled down to read until sail away at 4:30.
Our cruise is coming to an end soon and I have mixed feelings; one part of me is ready to go home, and the other just wants to stay on the ship. More thoughts on this later.
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