A Day in Catania

Catania is half an hour or so down the coast from Sicily's Bay of Naxos, where we were camped. Rather than drive, we decided to make it a Saturday day-trip on the municipal bus. We are using the municipal buses a good deal, but not always with the greatest efficiency. But that's another story.

The Bellini statue in Catania; the composer

of Norma, he was quite influential in earlier

19th century opera

Remains of the Roman amphitheater in Catania; Catania is

Sicily's 2nd largest city (300,000), but it is most notable for

having rebuilt from one of Etna's major eruptions, in the

1690s; the theatre is buried under many feet of lava; much

of Catania's construction is from black lava blocks

The main square, Piazza del Duomo (I think...del Duomo is

always a good bet; and the cathedral of, well, St. Mary

would be a good bet)

The main attraction of the Square, however, is the 8th

century elephant carrying, interestingly, an Egyptian

obelisk; the elephant is Catania's symbol



Still life in the market area

In the meat market

The Square is evidently a good site for wedding pix



"OK, cut, stop action, finito..." (there will be plenty of time

for that later)



False-front church



Rather than wait for ther 6PM direct bus, we took the 4PM

local bus back to Naxos, and enjoyed an hour and a half's

leisurely views of the coast and coastal towns, not to

mention the local color one sees and hears aboard such

conveyances (at least a thousand "Mama Mia's!")

And another parade; the road was barely

wide enough for the bus and the float

And the kiddies; we're still not clear on

what all this pageantry is about, whether

pre-Mardi Gras, Don Corleone's birthday,

or something else

Taormina: City Views

The main drag is a km of beautifully preserved Medieval 
buildings, up-scale shops and restaurants



E.g.

Plus alleys shooting off in every direction

Ditto

Ditto again

An occasional church

The tiniest alley we have seen yet

A shop Tawana would like

Busts of Mussolini

A plaque honoring Italian mini-submariners who sank British battleships

And, not least, a parade and kiddie pageant

Brooding upon how to get back at parents for this latest humiliation...

Taormina: the Theatre and Views

Taormina was founded by Greek colonists in 832 BCE. Sicily, as I'll probably have many occasions to observe, is a cross-roads of the Mediterranean, with indigenous paleolithic and neolithic populations, the Greeks, the Carthagenians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, the Spanish, and more recently, the Italians, the Mafia, and the Japanese tour buses, all putting their stamp on things. The sun never sets on Japanese tour buses. Sicily endures, nonetheless. Taormina is one of the oldest of the Greek colonies, occupying a strategic site, and displaying the traces of all the passing conquerors. These days, it's quite the fashionable resort, even in March.

Photos of Etna in the PM were not so good from Taormina, so here's one from the 
road our campground is on; morning; Etna is 11,000 feet, dominates Sicily, is one 
of the world's most active volcanoes, summit completely coveredin snow this time of year

The road from Giardini Naxos to Taormina absolutely rivals the Amalfi road, 
at least for the short stretch; again, we took the bus; this is one of many hair-pins, 
so tight there's barely room to walk...

Most resorts have tele-cabins heading up to the slopes; Taormina has them 
headed down to the beach

Anyhow, Taormina is known for many things, chief among which are its 3rd 
century Greek theatre, its view of the surrounding mountains and coasts, and, 
its long, beautiful Medieval street (next post)

Theatre proscenium

The views: looking north to the Straits (the Italian mainland on the right)

Looking down to the little cove and beach

Looking south, across the Bay of Naxos; our campground is on the point

Looking west, to the Saracen castle and an even higher hill town

It's a big theatre, remodeled by the Romans, now used for summer festival 
performances

Us

Looking up at the still-higher town

Straits of Messina and On To Sicily

The Straits of Messina divide the mainland and Sicily. It looks like 2-3 miles wide, and we rolled-on and rolled-off the ferry so quickly, half an hour, I barely got the ship's name.

I think it was Themestieri, or possibly The Mestieri

Part of the procession of ferries across the Straits; a bridge has been under 
discussion for years; but I gather both the Italians and the Sicilians are quite 
comfortable with this much separation

For those really in a hurry, a hydrofoil plies the waters

The voyage is so short they let you remain with your vehicle

So we rolled off in Messina, found the toll-way, and headed south along the coast for 
our first stop, Giardini and the Bay of Naxos, and Taormina; and the Lagani 
"campground," an attractive parking area for motorhomes--no trailers, tents, nothing 
not fully self-contained--the usual amenities, but only 8 euros a night; mostly Italians 
and Germans, aNederlander, an Austrian, us, and a Finn, who is apparently

driving a big toy-hauler with a Smart Car inside...interesting

Our current encampment



Bay of Naxos, Giardini in the distance, Taormina is its aerie above

Reggio Calabria and the Bronzes

It rained all day Monday, and rain was forecast for most of the rest of the week in the Bay of Naples. Although our original intention was to go no further south than Paestrum, we change our plans, especially upon hearing from a Brit couple at Camping Spartacus about how nice Sicily is. ("They'll make you an offer you can't refuse"). So we pulled up stakes Tuesday morning and headed south, getting to within a hundred kilometers of Reggio Calabria (southwest end of the peninsula; toe of the boot) by dark, parking in a busy service area. The drive was unpleasant...freeway, mostly through the mountains, more all day rain and wintry mix, trucks and more trucks, never-ending construction on the never-ending procession of bridges and tunnels, bridges and tunnels. The A3 will be a great road when they finish it.

The next morning was clear and bright, and we got into Reggio by 9:30 or so, found excellent parking in a park on the Straits, and headed for the Museum of Magna Graeca, which houses the famous Bronzes of Riace. After learning it was closed for renovation, we headed for the School of Restoration (I was hoping it would be a restaurant school) where we were told the Bronzi now temporarily reside. In the course of all this we walked much of downtown Reggio, which we thought very nice, if tiring.

Salerno; where thousands of Americans died in the 1943

invasion

Swordfish sale in Reggio: 1/2 off (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk)

The Bronzi were found by a diver off the shore at Riace, not

far from Reggio, in 1972, and were hailed immediately as one

of the greatest underwater finds yet: two nearly perfectly-

preserved bronze warriors, life-size or more, mid-5th century

BCE Greek; the Greeks did most of their sculpture in Bronze,

very few remain, and most of what is known of Greek

sculpture comes from Roman copies in marble

This is what they look like (off the web)

But when we entered the School of Restoration, they were

off in what looked like an intensive care ward, glassed off

from the rest of the exhibits, with a variety of technicians in

lab coats ministering to them (removing interior clay mold

material); interestingly, much the apparatus used in

preserving them is from surgery wards

Up-close of Warrior B; I wish I had more and

better pix, but they had a no pix policy for the

Bronzi and half a dozen guides and security

folk enforcing it

Elsewhere in the (temporary) exhibit from the Museum,

some nice small reliefs

And this wonderful 3rd century mosaic of dragons

The School of Restoration

Beautiful old banyan trees line the boulevard/boardwalk

along the Straits, facing Sicily



Sayonara, mainland; we are off in another ferry for the 20

minute ride to Messina



Amalfi Bus Ride--on YouTube

For the return trip to Sorrento, and maximum thrills, we decided to sit right behind the driver. OK, it's not an amusement park ride. But it was thrilling enough. The audio on the clip following is mostly the driver's radio. It's not scintillating, but it is authentic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwKc2KTg77I