Our 7th and final port of call following our second sea day was Messina, Italy. Even if you don’t include the fact that we began and ended in Civitavecchia, we still hit 4 different countries: Croatia, Greece, Turkey and Italy. Messina sits on Sicily at the closest point to the toe of the boot which is mainland Italy, directly opposite Reggio di Calabria. The straits are only 3 kilometers wide at the narrowest and the passage could be very unpredictable in Roman times. Our stop in Messina was a short 6 hours. It was barely long enough for people who wanted to take an excursion to Mt. Etna or Taormina to get there and back. Since Amy and I had just been to that part of Sicily in February, we didn’t worry much about it and opted instead to go into Messina itself. We had only ever passed through or by it; we had never stopped.
Unlike some of our other ports, the pier in Messina was right in the heart of the city. Walk out the gates and you were there. However, there isn’t really that much to see. It isn’t really Messina’s fault. In 1908 a terrible earthquake destroyed almost all of the ancient buildings and killed some 80,000 people in just a few minutes. After patiently rebuilding, the city was once again erased in 1943 as the Allies bombed the snot out of it, killing thousands, as they made landfall and started to work their way up Italy during WWII. The waterfront is mostly concrete boxes and the architecture elsewhere isn’t much better except for the few older buildings which remain or have been restored.
This is a view of the Sacrario Cristo Re which you can’t get any other way. The cruise ship is tall enough so that you can see over all the other buildings which block your view from street level.
Near the dock is the Santissima Annunziata dei Catalani, a Norman influenced church.
It is very near the Duomo with its restored Byzantine Mosaic Interior. After all of the mini-churches we saw thoughout Greece, it was interesting to once again be in a church of size.
In the Cathedral piazza is the Fountain of Orion, dating from the 1500's.
A few hours after sailing away toward our final destination, we passed the island of Stromboli. We had magnificent views of it from our stateroom balcony. Stromboli is one of the most active volcanos in the world. You can see the blackened northern sides and the steam coming from the vent at the top just to the left of the tallest point in this picture. Not really visible are the houses on the island. Yes, the Italians are crazy enough that some actually live in the middle of the sea on a volcano!
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