Messina is only a short hop from Naples and the main navigational challenge here is, is that the ship has to go through the top part of the Strait of Messina. This is a very busy water way, with a lot of deep sea traffic, fishermen and strong currents (up to 4 knots). One of the challenges is that the fishermen drift with the current up and down the Strait and will simply not move when a ship is passing by. Then, when in season, there can be tuna fishermen who do not move either when they spot a shoal of tuna as they are on a mission………. And then there are the numerous ferries that sail between Sicily and the main land (Sicilians call it the continent). A nice mix of potential problems and hence pilotage is compulsory.

And it is one of the most unusual pilot services around. First of all, they do not like you to slow down for the pilot boat to come along side. They prefer 15 to 16 knots so there is no delay in the transit of the vessel. In a way it is not a bad thing, as I found through the years, the more you slow down for a pilot boat, the harder it is for the pilot boat skipper to come along side. Once on board, the pilot runs to the bridge and starts giving orders. He does not care very much about what the ship is as long as it does 15 knots, steers well and has a VHF to talk to the ferries to see if all is well and the transition of the Strait can commence. A lot of these routines go against BRM (Bridge Resource Management) where there first has to be a exchange of information with the Master, then with the bridge team and then the pilot has to find his place in the bridge team routine. Not here: it is full-ahead and there we go.  Then the pilot spends most of his time talking to his old colleagues on the ferries so he can weave in between them. He/(maybe a she) knows exactly what the current is doing and thus in what way the fishermen will drift.  For going to Messina dock, one traverses half of the Strait and then sails behind the ferries into the port. Sometimes you have to wait as the ferries have right of way. Almost 10,000 people use these ferries each day as they either work on the continent or work on the island and so there is a frenetic movement of a lot of ferries here.

The good ship Seven Seas Voyager arrived right on time and the dispatching of the tours commenced at once. Our tour left at 08.15 hrs. and this time we were in Coach 2. While driving off, we saw in the distance a large cruise ship approaching and so we will make it to Taormina at least 2 hours earlier than their tours.  When we came back to the port, we saw that it was the Odyssey of the Seas who had come in, 170.000 tons, 5500 pax. So our Voyager was just a small tugboat parked under the stern.

Taormina with Mount Etna in the background. To the left the bay of Taormina which is nice for sightseeing if you have the time, but you cannot get in too close as the bay is quite shallow.

Again a very nice ride but when coming closer and closer to Taormina, the roads got smaller and smaller especially when the coach started climbing up the hill towards the town. At some turns the coach needed the full width of the road to make the turn and was then dependent on the courtesy of the opposite car drivers to wait. And those opposite were not very good at this, so there was some waiting here and there. Our tour escort Lady was very good and was blessed with a very loud voice so no issues this time with not having a Bla Bla box system. We could hear her all over Taormina so to speak. She got very excited when the Volcano Etna came into view. The Sicilians call her the nice volcano as she always erupts the right way and does not threaten the towns around her on the slopes.

The Parking Garage. Like all the houses also perched against the cliff wall. Normally it does not make sense to publish a photo of a parking garage, but the construction of this one, had an enormous impact on the quality of the tours to Taormina as it took away the long walks up and down the hill to get to the old parking areas.

In the old days  you had to walk a long distance up the hill to get to the town but a number of years ago, they built a seven story car park and floor 7 is on town level. The tour coaches  park on level 1 and then there are 3 lifts that take everybody up to the top. Each level has toilets, although those close to town are not in a great state of repair. Mostly the toilet seats were missing so it looked as if the locals went shopping here when in need.  On Floor 7 there is a large square where the Tour guides can re-assemble their group by catching everybody coming out of these lifts. There are days that there are more than 50 coaches in there, not counting the small shuttles and private cars, and then it is hard work to keep the groups together.

Taromina is built on top of a mountain ridge and the town started out as a defensive castle (even the churches could be used for defensive purposes) and because Sicily is located in a very strategic place in the mediterranean sea and has rich soil, so for 2000+ years the island and Taormina was occupied by one outside Empire to the other. Until in 1860 Garibaldi “liberated” this island and it became part of Italy. Still the Sicilians only feel marginally part of greater Italy and in the more recent years they have re-established the local language as being accepted as the preferred daily language and Italian is  now only used when there is official business or when talking to non-locals. Next step they hope for is that the Pope allows that normal church masses could also be held in the local language and only High Mass is done in Latin. According to our Tour leader, as there is now an American Pope, there might be a chance.

The main street of Taormina. This photo was taken around 11.00 hrs. so the Italian sightseers were not out yet, and the coaches from the Apartment of the Seas only just started to arrive.

Taormina town is made up of one long road with houses glued to the rock wall on either side. There are 3 squares along the road, all in front of churches and then at the end is the Greek Amphitheatre.  95% of the houses in this street, the Corso Umberto, have been taken over by shops with restaurants in the side streets (steps up, steps down) With the place being so full of tourists, the result has been that a lot of expensive shops have popped up as well. I do not know what a watch shop like Patek Philippe is doing in a place like Taormina but like other designer stores, it had a premium spot along the road and they must be selling otherwise they would not be there.

The local Greek theatre. Work was done in the main arena as it is still in full use in the summer time. Andrea Bocelli, Pavarotti etc.  all performed here and each year there is a different theme, so they keep rebuilding the stage. Note the black gap in the middle. This was added by the Romans when they introduced Gladiator fights.

Under the guidance of our magnificent tour leader we marched to the end of the town and then moved uphill to the Greek Theatre.  The Greeks, over 2000 years ago, built it and  used it for plays and other public displays. Then came the Romans and they turned it into an arena with gladiator fights, For that purpose they dug a large chamber under what once was the stage area of the Greeks.  Then after the Romans, new invaders came and they let the Theatre fall into disrepair. But they did some shopping for free bricks and stones and thus you can see in the Norman churches in the city, Greek and Roman stone work and bricks. An early form of recycling that was practised all over Europe.  Here our tour ended and we had 90 minutes left for shopping and or looking in detail at the town.

We decided on having a drink after absorbing so much culture and when I saw Cafe “Wunderbar” on the 2nd square, I thought this was it. So I tried to order in German but that did not work at all. Still it must have been German in the past as the cafe logo was still a German crown, one that you see in Germany when you go to a restaurant that is called “Zur Krone”. But the local craft beer was good, and amazingly for such a tourist trap the prices for beer and coffee were not unreasonable.

And this is what the road looked like, when the Sunday morning crowd started to arrive and the tours from the other ship

Then we made our way back to the parking garage. The lady coach driver had already moved her coach out of the garage and was standing in the street waving the coach sign. Then it was an hour back to the ship.  Next event of importance is cocktail time. Our  butler, Mr Savanan, surprises us everyday with the quality and size of the apetizers offered. There is a apetizer menu in the cabin, and if you let the butler know by 11.00 hrs., your choice it will arrive at 17.00 hrs.   See below what we got today.

Cocktails at 2700 hrs. Champagne with a cheese and meat platter. And then we still have to go for dinner.

Dinner tonight was in the French restaurant, Chatreuse. It is french based, very french based. You do not walk in for a quick bite. You sit down and let the world float by, while you float on good food and even better wine.  Below photos of the menu.

This is the left page of the menu which is available every day.

It takes about 10 minutes to figure out how the menu works, but that is the whole idea that you take your time. You are not here to eat, you are here to dine.

This is the 2nd page and this changes every day. So you can come back to this restaurant every day if you want if there is availability

There are a red and a white wine included in the cruise. From there, there is a extensive wine list available. And if you are a  wine lover that might be great, but even the house wines are of a very high standard compared to the competition, so we were not bothered, to go beyond those complimentary.

Then it was time to go to the show. This was the first appearance of the cast with a show called “Rockin Soul”. The cast is made up of 12 members, which is a high number for a ship with only 700 guests. You normally only see this number of cast members on a ship with more than 2000 guests. So we were very impressed. The show was a very high octane experience. Known elements and routines from shows that we have seen on other ships, but it was delivered with a very high tempo and cheography. Very impressed, and I can understand why there is only one show each evening; they must have been exhausted.

A quick shot of the stage. There was no announcement about not taking any photos so I grabbed my chance without breaking the rules.

That brought the time to 22.45 hrs. and we called it a day. Tomorrow we are ind Valetta, Malta. The weather should be very nice so we want to walk ashore to see what the place looks like as we have not been here for at least 10 years.

Weather: Clear Skies, temperatures going from 20oC/ 70oF ,  up to 28oC/84oF. Hopefully there will be a little bit of wind, so it will not so warm in the streets.