Around The World Without Flying: A return to Sicily

Before I start, I just wanted to alert you all to the fact I am receiving emails, but both my laptop and my iPhone are refusing to send my replies, despite giving them very stern talks and making repeated attempts. And my phone still only receives texts from Vodafone, ironically happily welcoming me to each new country . . .

We left Amsterdam around lunchtime yesterday and have just departed from Cologne. In Cologne I used up half an hour of my free time standing in line at a Vodaphone shop, not having seen an Apple store, but there was no sign of the two assistants finishing with the customers they were dealing with. So unfortunately I had to give up because I had to to meet our guide back at our meeting place in front of the amazing Cathedral in the centre of the city. In any case, I could not be sure they would be any more helpful than the two young girls in the Vodaphone shop in Rome. It is so frustrating!

I assure you I will keep trying to solve these issues. I still do not know whether it is Vodaphone and/or Apple and/or Netspace and/or iCloud at fault. When I sought help on the second ship, the ‘expert’ on the ship asserted that if I am receiving emails with a Netspace address, and texts from Vodaphone (even when WiFi and global roaming are turned off), it can't be the Apple device. That remains to be seen, of course.

Back to my stories . . .

When I returned to Sicily on the second ship, at the start of my Greek Islands cruise, I had booked to go to a beautiful coastal village. But as luck would have it, the G7 summit put paid to that. That village was where it was held under very tight security. So instead I went on a tour that included a return to the town square of Messina, where the cathedral with the tower that houses the amazing astronomical clock and mechanical lion, etc., played at midday. However, this time we also saw the Cathedral Treasury Museum and many sights around some of Messina and local countryside that I had not seen last time, including to Cape Peloro, the nearest point to the mainland, which was great.

I cannot begin to describe the ornate, beautifully crafted works, mostly in gold, often covered in precious stones such as diamonds, rubies and emeralds, etc., and some in silver, in the cathedral’s treasury. Unfortunately, though understandably, we were not allowed to photograph them. They had mostly been made by local goldsmiths in the 17th century, and must have been worth billions. The most outstanding piece was the ‘Madonna Golden Mantle’ . Another superb piece had been put together as a beautifully framed 3-D image, all made from joining hundreds of different items of jewellery that had been donated as a thanks by the women in the city for some blessing they had received. The jewellery included necklaces, bracelets, brooches and rings, often with precious stones, and apart from being a beautiful work of art, gave a fascinating insight into the jewellery worn by women a couple of hundred years ago. I wonder if you can see these on the internet. I cannot do them justice by my limited descriptions.

As I have said before, like the Vatican's treasury and the gold, emerald and jade Buddhas I saw, at least keeping collections of such beautiful works in one place honours the artists, though I still have a problem seeing all this accumulated wealth when I see so much poverty outside.

The photos below will give you an overview of what I saw.

The beautiful ceiling of the cathedral was bombed in WW2 and collapsed onto the floor causing the cathedral to catch on fire. It seems to have been restored to its former glory. It was beautiful to see.

Some of the lovely marble floor, which had to to be reconstructed as well.

I included a view like this in my last post on Sicily, but thought it was so lovely I took another photo, though this time with my phone camera. Notice the mosaic image in the centre,

As for the last photo. Notice the marble floor.

This was a statue in tribute to the Apostle Paul. who I think gave the Sicilans at that time the letter containing greetings from Mary, Mother of Jesus, which letter the Sicilians revere to this day.

This is the only original statue in the cathedral. You can see where it was scorched in the fire. The rest (and there are a lot) are copies of the originals.

Another view of the astronomical clock.

View of the harbour from the hill behind the city square. The golden statue on the far left is of Mother Mary welcoming people to the city, and giving her blessing.

Another view of the houses from above. Like other places in Southern Italy, the people have flat roofs as they get little rain and no snow, and instead can enjoy a balmy evening sitting on their roof.