Today marked our third visit to Messina, on the Italian island of Sicily. During both our previous visits, we took the train to Taormina. Since we hadn’t seen anything of Messina beyond the walk from the ship to the Messina Centrale Stazione (train station), we decided to remedy that today.
We allowed ourselves a slow start to the day, and went to breakfast in the Club Restaurant at 8am. I was doing some internet searches for things to see in Messina while we ate, and we were surprised to learn about two 700 foot tall pylons, one on a peninsula at the northeast edge of Messina and the other directly across the Messina Strait on mainland Italy that were used to string a cable carrying electricity to the island until the 1990s. In the mid 80’s, an underwater cable was laid that allowed the high cable to eventually be removed. However, the pylons still stand, and have almost 1300 steps to the top. G’s eyes lit up, until a little more research told us that the pylon steps were closed to tourists (thank God!).
After breakfast, we did go up on Deck 11 (or is it 12?) forward to see if the pylons were visible, and they quite clearly were. As intrigued as we were by their existence, and although they were only 10 miles from the ship, taxi drivers wanted €50 to take us there and back. No, thank you; we saw the photos online, and they will have to suffice.
Also clearly visible from the ship was the Golden Madonna statue overlooking the harbor entrance. The statue itself is 21 feet tall, and it is placed atop a stone tower with an inscription on its base. Naturally, we had to Google that, and found out it translates to “We bless you and your city” in English. The story behind the inscription and the statue is a legend that says the Apostle Paul came to Sicily around 42AD to convert the Sicilians to Christianity. They were slow to give up their deities but eventually did, in large and enthusiastic numbers. Several Sicilians accompanied Paul to Palestine, where they met Mary, the Mother of Christ in 42 AD. They persuaded her to write a letter to their fellow Messenians, and she did. In the letter, which was written in Hebrew, she told the Messinians that she appreciated their devotion and would grant them perpetual protection. And she ended the letter with the words inscribed in the statue, “We bless you and your city”. The letter was rolled up and secured with a strand of her hair.
So those were two interesting things we learned about Messina before we’d even left the ship. But our main goals for the day was to get to the Cathedral of Messina and see its clock tower chime at noon, because all sorts of things happened when it did. We walked off the ship, wandered the neighborhood close to the waterfront for awhile and ended up at the Cathedral when the bells marked 11:30am.
Cathedral and Bell Tower of Messina
Exterior view
Exterior view
We purchased tickets to climb the bell tower (just under 300 easy steps) but were told we had to be down by noon. It was fascinating to see all the different statues and the gears that made them turn and rotate. There were signage boards in the bell tower that stated the clock was the largest and most complex astronomical clock in the world and described the various statues and movements and their meaning. At the heart of it all was the city’s patron saint, Our Lady of the Letter. We couldn’t wait to see it all in action.
I videoed the noon chimes, and will eventually upload it, but I’m sure YouTube has better quality videos. The statues move and then a large lion at the top raises its head and roars three times. And then a rooster crows, and, finally, Ave Maria is played. This is some serious entertainment. I can see why it is Messina’s claim to fame.
Clock components from inside the bell tower
Clock components
Clock components
Clock gears
Just two of the bells with the Pacific Princess in the background
One face of the astronomical clock
The calendar in the bell tower
The Pacific Princess with the Golden Madonna statue in the background
Altar of the Cathedral of Messina
After noon, we went inside the Cathedral. As one would expect, it was huge and impressive. When we bought our tickets to climb the bell tower (€4), we had added, for an additional €2, a ticket to tour a museum in the Cathedral that housed the historic gold items belonging to the church. There were a few gold images of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus and she had two rings on each finger. That was just strange. Somehow I can’t imagine Mary bejeweled and bedazzled.
While we were in the museum, we heard music coming from the large pipe organ and huge pipes on either side of the altar and rushed out to listen. There was going to be a concert that evening, and they were checking the sound. Oh my, that was amazing. We sat there for at least 20 minutes listening to this huge sound reverberating around the Cathedral. What an opportunity!
After that, G wanted to take one of the many ferries we saw coming and going from the large harbor to…anywhere, he didn’t care where. He just wanted to see what it was like. And so we boarded a ferry going to Reggio Calabria in the mainland. We thought we’d eat a late lunch over there, but once we got there didn’t see anything particularly appealing. And so we took a ferry back, returned to the ship and ate lunch in the Panorama Buffet. We intended to sit outside on the Panorama Deck to eat, but just as we walked out there, the skies opened and a torrential rain fell with thunder and lightning. We had gotten back just in time, as we would have been soaked on the walk from the ferry to the ship.
We rested a short time before dinner, ate just one course and made it to the 6:30pm production show Stardust. It was intended to be a pre-dinner show for second seating dinners but we were so wiped out we wanted to have an early evening. By 8pm we were in our cabin for the evening. We arrived in London four weeks ago today and haven’t slowed down much since.