Messina is Sicily and considered Italy as well. I contacted our tour office and they suggested I write it as, Messina, Sicily, Italy, so I have. They issued a statement for me to quote, so I will. “Messina (Missina in Sicilian) is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, Italy and the capital of the province of Messina. A turbulent history of natural disasters and wartime damage has led to much of the city being rebuilt over the years, but there are many treasures that can still be discovered-the port is the gateway to the incredible town of Taormina and the infamous Mount Etna.”
Skip and I experienced a wonderful tour of Sicily some years ago, visited Taormina, Mount Etna and Messina, so I thought I knew the town of Messina and we decided to re-visit it again on our own two feet. I was wrong. Perhaps we were in the province of Messina, but never this town. I noticed four other large ships in the port with us, but did not think of the consequences of six or seven thousand people swooping into the same town, wanting to see the same Duomo we wanted to see. On our walk with thousands of others, we thought, taking the side streets would lessen the crowds. It proved to be a good move. We became enchanted with watching the bell maker. Look at the photo of the bells we wanted to take home, but how? Can you see the turner? They come in all sizes and we were going to sightsee first and then come back to become the proud owners of a smaller, much smaller version of the circle of bells.
By the time we decided to go back, the town had changed into a herd of tourists and we could not find our little side street; we even had trouble figuring out which way to return to the port. Heavy crowds are disorientating.
Crowds are wonderful places for venders on foot to get up into your face trying to tempt you with their goods. It became so annoying that I began to take their photos when they got too close, a good target and a quick move on.
Piazza Duomo Basilica Cattedrale Messina: What a beautiful and serious place to visit. The vibes in this Plazza Duomo are soothing, caressing, calming, and all the while ushering you to a place of knowing. The candles are my interest when I enter a special place of holiness. The candles here are electric. You just turn the top, right? Wrong. They are all hooked up to electric outlets and you are to drop your donation for candlelight into a slot connected to the electricity and then and only then can you turn the candle light on. How modern. Look, a tourist is standing in front of The Fountain of Orion in the Piazza. Duomo.
We noticed that all of the big hop on hop off red buses were filled; all of the coaches were filled. How are we going to get a bigger glimpse of this city? We didn’t did we? Yes we did, we rode the choo choo train all around Messina. The town’s buildings are built close together managing space well. We noticed the housing was one on top of another and a glint of space and another big housing project and another and another until space ran out. Skip said, “Love thy neighbor as thy self” has to be very true in these living conditions.
All goes to show you can make your way through the crowds, and have a rewarding travel day. I notice that travelers go to the same places and each person sees something different, something their way according to their perspective.
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