This was our final day in Italy, which has been an amazing experience. Today we were on the island of Sicily just off the tip (toe) of the boot of Italy.
We were pulling into the port at Messina as we all woke up around 7:00 AM. It was a partly cloudy morning with temperatures in the mid 70s. I went out on our stateroom balcony to take some shots of both the Italian mainland and the city of Messina on the other side of the strait. It briefly started raining while I was on the balcony, but that was the only rain we saw today.
Because our arrival was a little bit later than yesterday, our tour group did not meet until 8:15am. This allowed us to have breakfast in the Main Dining Room. I ate pretty light with just two small pancakes and sausage with some coffee. Sara had some delectable looking chocolate chip pancakes. It was all very good.
We met our tour group in the Royal Theater again and were assigned to group 28 for the day. This tour was relatively short as it just hit the highlights of Messina and took us to the northeast corner of Sicily through a few small fishing villages to the point where the distance between the island and the mainland is at its narrowest.
Once on the dock, we met our guide Anna and our bus driver Phillip. As we started to tour, Anna told us briefly about the history of Messina, which is very tied to a massive earthquake that occurred on December 28, 1908 and destroyed 93% of the city. This also was the cause of between 60,000 and 70,000 deaths. Because of this earthquake, most of the buildings in Messina are not very old. Messina was also bombed heavily in 1944 during World War II, which caused further destruction.
Our first stop was at the Christ the King terrace overlooking the city, the port, and the mainland of Italy (the toe of the boot).
This is right outside of Christ the King Cathedral that was built on the spot of a former castle. You can still see some of the outer walls of the castle, and one of the towers is still used for the church bell.
While on this terrace, Anna explained even more about the island of Sicily and the city of Messina. Messina is the northeastern part of Sicily across the Strait of Messina from mainland Italy. The strait is 1.6 miles wide at its narrowest and 8-miles across at its widest. The population of Sicily is approximately at 5 people with 244,000 residents of Messina. Messina is considered to be the gate of Sicily.
She also explained the story about “Mary of the Letter”, the patron saint of Messina. This story kept coming up throughout the day and was reflected throughout Messina.
Once we left the terrace, we drove north through three small fishing villages toward the point where the Strait of Messina is the narrowest. We saw a couple of lakes in the last village, and Anna explained that one of the things this area is know for is catching mussels. Once we stopped, I walked for a bit and got to see a fisherman who had caught an entire basket of mussels.
Before that stop, we stopped briefly at the point where the Strait of Messina is only 1.6-miles wide where it was very easy to see mainland Italy, and also we could look back to see Messina and our cruise ship way in the distance. On our second stop, Olivia met a lady on our bus with a Michigan State University Science Department sweatshirt that knew Olivia’s mother who used to work there. Small world.
From there we headed down the coast back to Messina and to the Messina Cathedral in the city center. This cathedral has a very intricate clock tower that plays a bell program every day at noon. We all gathered in the Piazza and watched the program that included moving bronze statues and incorporated elements like the story of “Mary of the Letter”, a roaring lion, and a rooster that crowed three times. I decided to record the program on my phone, and my arms were on fire as it lasted for 12 minutes.
After the clock tower program, Ann briefly showed us the famous astronomical clock that is on the side of the tower. It begins with the current year in the middle and then gets more precise to the day as you go outward through the rings with an angel point to the specific day.
Next our group took a tour of the Messina Cathedral starting with the museum. We had a local guide who showed us many different objects in the museum, many of which had to do with “Mary of the Letter”.
Back in the sanctuary, Anna told us about the history of the cathedral. The original building dates back to before 1060 AD, but has been rebuilt five different times. The current building came after the earthquake of 1908 and was restored after the bombings on 1944.
She showed us the alter with a massive mosaic of Jesus giving a blessing the Greek way. This was contrasted with a silver statue of Mary of the Letter nearby who was giving a blessing in the Italian way with the three finger hand gesture representing the trinity.
One of the most impressive items we saw as the pipe organ with 15,000 pipes that are spread out all over the sanctuary. This is the largest pipe organ in Italy and the third largest in Europe.
As the group headed back to the bus to go back to the port, we said goodbye to Anna and stayed in the city center to spend the rest of our day exploring Messina on our own.
A few blocks away from the city center, we found a charming little restaurant for lunch called Osteria del Campanile.
We sat at a table by the street and shared tagliere misto (meat and cheese plate), ravioloni con ricotta e spinaci, spaghetti alla vecchia signora, and gnocchi alla sorrentina.
This was definitely in the running for our best meal in Italy and the gnocchi is easily the best I’ve ever had.
After lunch we walked back to the city center for cannolis at a place recommended by Anna. Sicily is know for cannoli, so we had to give it a try.
I’ve had cannolis a few times and have never been a fan but these were incredible. Sara was not a big fan but the rest of us loved them!
Next we decided to climb the clock tower of Messina Cathedral to the observation deck at the top. Olivia was a trooper even though she is afraid of heights and very claustrophobic.
It was 236 steps to the top and all along they way we could see the inner working of the clock with the bronze statues and bells. There were also lots of signs explaining the program we had seen earlier.
At the top we had awesome view of the city and the port from the observation deck. We walked all the way around the top taking in the views before heading back down.
Our final stop in Messina was for one last gelato before leaving Italy. This time I got chocolate with caramel and caffè, Olivia got lemon with lemon cream pie, Kate got lemon and peach, and Sara got mint with stracciatella. Daily gelato was one of our favorite parts of Italy.
From there we got back on the ship to clean up for dinner in the Main Dining Room.
Our waiters were Amri from Indonesia and Sana from Gambia again, and it was Italian night.
I had minestrone, caesar salad, lasagna, and tiramisu for dessert. It was delicious as always, and full of great family conversations.
After dinner we walked a little on the promenade deck around the ship getting last glance of Italy as the sun was setting behind the ship. We then decided to turn in to get a little extra rest. Tomorrow is a day at sea but also we lose an hour overnight as we head east on the Mediterranean. Goodbye Italy!