Monday April 27

April 27, 2009 (Monday)
It's 7:30 a.m and we have just about reached our next port of Messina, Sicily. On the TV I can tune in to a channel that shows the view from the front of the ship and I see we are passing between the foot of the boot of Italy and Sicily. Chip just went up and took pictures. The seas are a little rough and the wind is at 66 knots which is probably about 50 mph. Hopefully in port it will be a little calmer (no, a lot calmer). I think I will change from shorts to jeans now. It's a good thing I did change!!
The winds by the port are killer!!! I feel like someone beat my face up. I didn't tie my hair up (I forgot to pack anything to do that) so my face was totally wind whipped by my hair all morning. We walked from the port down the street to the train/bus station. There were only 2 trains in and out of Messina going to Taormina, Sicily today and they didn't give us much time. The bus schedule wasn't any better so we hired a taxi to take us to Taormina and leave us for 3 hours and come back to return us to the ship for 120 Euros for all four of us. So at 30 Euros each that was such a deal compared to the excursion the ship was offering for 89 Euros per person to do the same, although I think they got 4 hours. Taormina was well worth it.
We first walked up the street where the taxi driver dropped us off to the Greek Theatre. It had the most magnificent city/ocean views. It's so hard to believe how this theatre was constructed up on this hill/mountain side. The pedestrian street with all the shops, Corso Umberto, was so quaint. I found a few little gifts for my girls and also bought a bottle of Almond wine which I had read about. Almond wine is a specialty in Sicily and the shop I bought it from has its own website, www.taorminabenedetto.com. In that same store, Ivan and Denise bought some Sicilian bread, mixed marinated olives and some cheese. We all found a bench in a Piazza nearby and had a casual lunch and polished off every bit of the bread, cheese and olives!!!
After shopping and our casual lunch we found our taxi driver and made our way back to the ship. Ivan and Denise went back to the ship and Chip and I explored the city a little looking for a phone so he could call his mom. After not seeing anything we went back to the ship where I sat in the lobby and checked email and blogged and he went back out in search of a public phone. When Chip returned he told me about the Cathedral de Messina a couple of blocks from the ship, so we both went out again since it was nearing 4 o'clock so we could hear the bells and watch the carillon on the tower. When the clock struck 4 though it didn't have the performance with all the moving sections I expected. On the lower level, the priests started to move but didn't even make a complete revolution. The church was very ornate and we took a few pictures. Then we went looking for some beer for Chip to bring back to the ship. He got some Messina Birra and no one took it from us when we got back on the ship since you can't normally bring alcohol on board.
After an hours nap, we got ready for dinner and met Denise and Ivan in the Grand Pacific Dining room for dinner. I had the English beef loin with Yorkshire pudding, the ceasar salad, vegetable beef broth and for dessert the black cherry soup. Chip had the snapper with seafood gumbo, black cherry soup and the Mediterranean fruit and caprese salad. Then he had the coconut soufflé for dessert. A new comedian came on the ship today so we went to his show after dinner. He was pretty good. After the show we visited the casino and lost $20. By then it was 11:30 and we could hardly hold our eyes open (the smoke in the casino didn't help). So early to bed and early to rise for Valletta, Malta.