Two other cruise ships were already in port when we arrived in Catania, another late substitution by Celebrity. Catania is more of a jumping-off point for Mt. Etna than a destination but the Mt. Etna tours had already departed by the time “Constellation” docked so most of the passengers headed either for Syracusa or Taomina. We had both towns pretty much to ourselves on our visit two years ago and I can’t imagine how they dealt with three shiploads of tourists.
Nothing about Catania looked familiar as we followed Tricia and her downloaded maps from the port until we reached Piazza del Duomo and Teatro Bellini, named after opera composer and native son Vincenzo Bellini. The crowds thinned once we were away from the Duomo where, proudly standing between a classic Mercedes and a Porsche, I spied with my little eye . . . a red 1963 Fiat 1100 convertible, just like the one I used to own. Ah, sweet memories!
As we sailed away towards Messina that evening, Mt. Etna partially shed its veil of clouds and shined pinkly in the setting sun.
We finally got back on schedule on Sunday in Messina. It’s only a short walk from the harbor to the few points of interest. Messina was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1908 and was heavily bombed during the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War II.
The two “biggies” in Messina are the Orion Fountain and the Astronomical Clock in the bell tower of the Duomo di Messina. The fountain was sculpted by one of Michelangelo’s students in the early 1500s and dedicated to Orion, the city’s mythical founder.
The Astronomical Clock isn’t much to see, especially if you have seen the one built in 1338 in Prague. The action, such as it is, occurs only at noon when the lion roars and the cock crows and some saints go marching around. The real spectacle is the hundreds of tourists holding their cell phones overhead to record the event.
My memory of Messina will be the crunchy shell and gooey filling of the oversize cannoli the three of us shared. And, yes, I had the biggest share!
