Messina/Sicily
Our last day in Italy was a great one 🏙️⛲🦐
Hello Tigers!
Today we enjoyed the beautiful port city of Messina on the Island of Sicily. While many travelers were out on excursion today, we opted to set out on foot on our own to explore the city. This ended up being a great option as we got to see so much and do so at our own pace.
We started by heading straight to the Cathedral Square of Messina. This area hosts both the Cathedral itself and the Bell Tower and Astronomical clock. It is considered the largest astronomical clock in the world and is almost 200 feet tall. It features several gold statues and bells that ring every 15 minutes with several of the figures moving at particular times as well. For just 5 euros, we were able to climb the bell tower’s 236 steps to reach the very top where we were rewarded with the most beautiful 360 degree view of the entire city. This absolutely took my breath away. We spent several minutes at the top just taking it all in. I would not recommend this to those who don’t do well with heights, but everything felt super safe.
In addition to the bell tower, you can add the Cathedral museum for 2.5 more euros, so we did that as well. The Cathedral itself is beautiful, built originally in 1120 and rebuilt in the 1900s after the devastating 1908 Messina earthquake. Still some walls, parts of the foundation and artwork were salvaged and the museum includes many precious artifacts from the past 500 years.
After our tours, we grabbed a quick breakfast of pastries before exploring the city both along the coast line and in Messina’s bustling shopping district. Here, we grabbed lunch at a restaurant that specialized in Sicilian cuisine. We ordered bruschetta, then I got the Penne dello Stretto, which was a traditional dish made with penne noodles, swordfish, eggplant, and fennel in a tomato sauce. My husband ordered the Spaghetti alla Pescatora, which was a spaghetti dish with a mix of fresh seafood, tomatoes, and garlic. All the food was so fresh and delicious, and I was so glad we got handmade pasta one more time before leaving Italy.
Before getting back on the ship, I bought a cannoli from a bakery near the port. They were made to order, piping the mascarpone filling into a fresh cannoli shell and adding crushed pistachio on to each side before dusting it with powdered sugar. I decided to take it back on the ship and we shared it on our room’s veranda as our ship set sail so we could look out over the city again.
After a wonderful day, we got to experience our first dinner at one of the four specialty restaurants on board. Tonight was Jacques, the French restaurant. The service and ambiance in this restaurant were wonderful, as was all the food we tried. I got a lobster gnocchi and James tried the escargot. We both got the French onion soup, and then for entrees I got the Dover sole with lemon caper sauce and James had the bone-in pork with creamy peppercorn sauce. They had so many wonderful looking desserts, but I had to try this layered puff pastry dessert with vanilla custard cream. This was certainly a highlight of the food we’ve had on the ship so far.
Tomorrow we begin our journey through Greece with our first stop in Argostoli!
M-I-Z!
Morgan