Sizing up Sicily - November 5, 2017

On the November 5th, we landed in Messina, Sicily. We didn't have time to conquer the city because we had a lot of ground to cover that day. However, Messina has been conquered many times before and I think with a little planning and some drills on our sea day, we could have taken it. That is, as long as the less mobile passengers agreed to disembark last so that they didn't gum up the landing.

We had an ambitious and protracted agenda that day, it would be a dawn-to-dusk adventure. We were to drive down the east coast of Sicily to Taormina, to check out that little gem and then travel further south and up on to Mount Etna, to do some volcano touring. In between we would stop in Zafferana for lunch which was a highlight unto itself. So, let me break the day up into three parts, as follows:

1.  Taormina

The reason General Montgomery had such a tough time making his way up the east coast of Sicily during WW2 was due to the miserable topography on that side of the island. There is no flat land to race your tanks across and only recently have modern highways, with extensive tunnels, provided the means to travel south out of Messina and make reasonable progress (of course Monty was going in the opposite direction). It took about 90 minutes for us to get off the ship, through Messina and to the parking lot below Taormina.

Taormina has history that goes back well before WW2, right back to antiquity. It was built high up above the beach in a most defensible position. The town sits 200 meters above the Ionian Sea, on the spine of a high promontory, that rises steeply from the beach and stretches all the way up to Mount Tauro. On a clear day in Taormina,  you can see the mountains on the Italian mainland to the north and Mount Etna, the tallest mountain on Sicily, to the south. It was here that the Greeks founded Taormina in 392 B.C. Later, the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, French and Spanish would all try to govern the area and then Gym arrived in 2017 and settled things down.

The main attraction in Taormina is the open-air theatre, Teatro Antico di Taormina. It was built by the greeks and renovated by the romans. This venue, still a popular concert location, is a short stroll down to the end of Via Teatro Greco, off of Corso Umberto, near Porto Messina. Gym and Mrs. Gym climbed all over the theatre and wondered what it would be like to listen to a live concert there. Our guide Beatrice had been to see Tony Bennett there and said it was wonderful given the fantastic acoustics.

The other major attraction is the abundance of well-preserved medieval buildings, separated by a very narrow stone street, that have stood the test of time along Corso Umberto, between the two city gates of Porto Messina and Porto Catania.  It is fun to stroll down this street which is Taormina's main drag. The street is pretty level, following a contour of the promontory and you can hike from one end to the other in under an hour, if you don't get drawn into too many of the shops, restaurants or bars that are there. At either end you have fantastic views of the sea and the surrounding countryside.

Looking up the promontory from old Taormina towards Mount Tauro

Porto Messina

Via Teatro Greco

The entrance to Teatro Antico di Taormina

Greco-Roman ruins at the Teatro Antico di Taormina

Lush gardens on the escapement below Taormina

Looking south from Taormina 

Looking north from Taormina

Looking down from the cheap seats to the stage at Teatro Antico di Taormina

Corso Umberto is the place to be seen. Only one kilometres in length
but a very worthwhile stroll that one would never tire of.

Corso Umbert follows a contour so to the east you  must go down
towards the sea. Each alleyway running in that direction is a
steep set of stone stairs between the buildings off which
may be the entrances to cool little shops and bars.

View to the south entering Piazza IX Aprile

San Guisseppe taken from Piazza IX Aprile

a view looking south from Piazza IX Aprile, near  Porto Syracuse

2. At the base of Mt. Eatna


After leaving Taormina we would head south towards Mt. Etna and stop in Zafferana. This is an interesting place lying right below Europe's largest active volcano, where volcanic ash can ruin your planned picnic, just as easily as a rainstorm. Etna is continually and actively spewing lava from the summit or a flank crater all the time. Since 1955, there have been 49 eruptions. On March 16th, 2017, 10 people were injured including a BBC film crew when magma exploded as it came into contact with snow.

This is a classical example of a place that's "nice to visit but you wouldn't want to live there". However, Zafferana is a popular resort in spite of being situated on the side of Mt. Etna. Being at an elevation of 500 meters above sea level, Sicilians can escape the oppressive Sicilian heat in the summer by staying in Zafferana. And in the winter, the town is a base for alpine skiers that ski at one of two resorts on the mountain.

The other major attraction of this area is the food. The climate and the volcanic soil combine to produce very tasty local produce. The name of the town is derived from the spice, Saffron. Saffron crocuses used to be widely cultivated nearby. Due to the fantastic local ingredients and the abundance of tourists, there are many fine restaurants in and around town. We stopped at one such establishment, Trattoria Ardichetto, for a lunch that featured local olive oil, hand-made pasta and wine from nearby vineyards. Gym sampled two pasta dishes that were unparalleled in his life-time. Flashbacks to that meal continue to haunt the author. Gym highly recommends this place.

Trattoria Ardichetto

Hand made Strozzapreti

3. The Volcano

We resumed our exploration of the mountain on full stomachs. Rising up out of Zafferana on Via Casone's switchbacks was pretty cool, if one is not prone to motion sickness. Mercifully, Mrs. Gym was able to avoid any incidents by employing the old adage of "mind over matter". She occupied herself trying to find the perfect shot of the summit through the bus window as we drove up through a forested area that was interrupted by a recent lava flow.

Etna is 11,000 feet high and we would not make it to the summit on this trip. We would however get up to a parking lot not far from the Hotel Corsaro.  From there we were able to scramble up a side vent of the main volcano. On the summit Gym and Mrs. Gym stood at about 7000 feet above sea level and scooped up a couple of rocks coloured red by the predominance of iron oxide in the volcanic material. To get to the summit of the main cinder cone, we needed another day to travel up the remaining 4000 vertical feet on a combination of cable car, 4 x 4 vehicle and foot. Unfortunately, we had a boat waiting for us in Messina.

It was dark when we left the dock in Messina and as we ate dinner we rounded the toe of the boot of Italy, on a northerly heading.

crater of a side vent of the main crater of Mt. Etna

climbing up the cinder cone

Gym's climbing boot hanging over the edge of the cauldron

Mrs. Gym in front of a view down to the parking lot

sailing out of Messina

Verifying Venice - November 3, 2017

Our first introduction to Venice was inside the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. The "Sin City" model of Venice is cool but you can't smell the Adriatic there. The real Venice also contains a large number of slim people that speak Italian; as opposed to a large number of stout people that speak American. Gym and Mrs. Gym highly recommend a visit to the real thing, and if you go then do it off-season because the crowds that were there when we went weren't too bad. St. Mark's Square was only half full during our visit and we understand it is packed in the summer.

One of the best ways to visit Venice for the first time is by a smaller cruise ship. The main reason I say this is because you can cruise right up and park within walking distance of everything.  It is also interesting to note though that if you arrive by cruise ship you have already gotten a taste of Venice as you traveled up the Adriatic. On our cruise, we stopped at three ports that were Venetian possessions when the city-state was at the height of its dominance in the eastern Mediterranean. At these stops in Corfu, Kotor and Split, we saw Venetian buildings and fortifications which foreshadowed what we were to see in Venice. If you just flew into Venice it wouldn't be the same.

An iconic Venetian water taxi like the one we toured Venice in -  as Alan
Jackson wrote, "you can't beat the way an old wood boat rides".

As our time here was limited, we began our visit by getting off the ship and immediately boarding one of those wooden water taxis that you have seen in dozens of movies. It was raining lightly so we were happy that we could tour the canals comfortably, under cover of the fancy, roofed cabin. The largest and most ornate palaces line the wider of the hundreds of canals that criss-cross the city. We motored down almost the entire length of the Grande Canal in the taxi and ended up almost closing a giant loop on the boat ride. The boat ride ended at the Mercati di Rialto, the best outdoor market that Gym has ever seen. The kaleidoscope of colours, sounds and smells was intoxicating. As usual, Gym was fascinated with the seafood stalls. However, we didn't buy any octopus and instead settled on some dry pasta sauces because it seemed like a practical thing to do.

We then started a walking tour. We would cross the Grande Canal at the famous Ponte di Rialto and make our way through what is referred to as the "tourist maze", all the way to St. Mark's Square. The narrow and winding roads are paved with volcanic paving stones that retain a roughness as they become worn. This makes for good footing in a perpetually wet place. Almost every street is lined with the three and four storey Venetian houses, fronted by high-end boutiques, that are flanked by independent cafes and gelato shops. We spent a bit of time in a glass shop because Mrs. Gym insisted that that is what you had to do in Venice. Sure the glass stuff was nice but the thought of transporting the merchandise home allowed us to leave the shop with a full wallet.

When we got to St. Mark's Square we had to check out the Basilica. The outside of the church is so amazing that one is drawn into the line-up to enter and see if the interior is equally as grand, and it
is! The line-up moved quickly and yet there were some people that can't respect a orderly queue. Gym said a Hail Mary for the line crashers once he got inside. Especially impressive are the mosaics at the entrance and the intricate tiled floors. The ornate high domes which are arranged to form a cross were dark when we entered and I have since learned that the best viewing is at noon when all the lights are on. They only turn the lights on for an hour or so at midday and we must have just missed that. We left the Basilica knowing that we had only skimmed the surface.

After touring the Basilica we sauntered around St. Mark's Square, the Palazzo Ducale and then we had to hustle a fair distance down the Riva deli Schiavoni (the seaside promenade)  to catch a ferry back to the cruise ship which we had left at the Venezia Terminal. It was a short tour but it was a good introduction to a must-see venue.

The trouble with traveling in the fall, in a temperate port, is that the days are shorter and that doesn't give you much time to visit. So as the Venetian adventure was ending we cruised out of the terminal and passed St. Mark's Square in the dark. We had a long way to go to the next port-of-call. We were not stopping until we reached Sicily. Because of the distance, we experienced a sea-day on our transit down the east coast of Italy which was a nice break.

A shot from the cruise ship as we slip past St. Mark's Square
looking for a parking spot

One of the 400+ bridges in Venice which connect the islands
separated by 200+ canals

The famous Grande Canal where the water taxi left us in Rialto.

Artist Lorenzo Quinn (son of Anthony Quinn, the actor)
unveiled this sculpture in 2017 to bring attention to
Climate Change vis-a-vis Venice

Gym's passion, market photography

The Rialto Market was outstanding

Just look at that seafood

Mrs. Gym bounding up the Ponti di Rialto

The entrance to St. Mark's Basilica

Unbelievable artwork adorns the exterior of the church but
honestly the interior is even more impressive. Unfortunately,
 you are not allowed to take pictures inside.

Check out the beautiful double rows of marble

This is a frontal view of the Basilica. From a Birdseye view you
would see four massive domes in the shape of a cross.

St. Mark's Campanile is 323 feet tall

Probably since 911 a few of these guys have been
hanging out at St. Marks Square

Palazzo Ducale from the promenade.

A picture of the gondoliers from Ponte della Paglia,
 showing the "Bridge of Sighs" in the background.

Carnevale has become a big deal in Venice from late
January to mid-February. There are masks on sale everywhere
in Venice at all times.