A Day on Sicily

Sunday 21 September 2026. We are on a cruise from Malta to Barcelona in Spain which goes the long way round. It's a ten-day cruise and there are no sea days, every day will see us in port somewhere around the Mediterranean.

Today we have arrived at the island of Sicily, famed for its being the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It once had its own species of wolf - the Sicilian Wolf but that was driven to extinction during the 20th Century by deforestation and hunting. The last possible sighting of it was in 1970. Likewise there had been a species of miniature elephant roaming the island. Last sighting of that was around 20,000 years ago.

The island's other claim to fame, apart from the Mafia, is the rather impressive Mount Etna, seen here as we passed in a coach. It is one of the most active volcanos in Europe and is in almost constant state of eruption. Records of eruptions, some of which can last five years or more, have been found well into the BCE period of time with evidence of the earliest having occurred some half a million years BCE. It even has an old legend of being the home of King Arthur and his half-sister Morgan-le-fay...

Our first stop is Taormina, a lovely place that we visited in 2008 and whilst it hasn't changed very much, the shops have moved about as each year they have to apply anew for their premises. It's a Sunday today in any case so many of the big name shops are closed. What a shame...

Here coaches have to park on the bottom level of a multi-storey car park. The vehicle entrance is not far above sea level and the entry/exit for those on foot is on level 7 as the main streets sit more than halfway up a steep rise in ground level. Toilets are on a level somewhere in between and thankfully there's a lift to get you up to the top and back down again. The view from the top is stunning.

We bravely set off trying to keep up with the tour guide but I was struggling to walk so fast and we usually reached the group as he was coming to the end of eplaining something and then set off again. Having been before we knewwhere he was heading anyway and we caught up with them as he went off to buy tickets into the Greek/Roman amphitheater - more properly just theatre as the seating just goes around one side in a semi-circle rather than the full encirclement. The Greek theatre afforded patrons a view beyond of the sea as it was built right on the edge of the hillside, but the Romans added their trademark brickwork at the side and around the back of the stage, effectively blocking this view.

We entered this time at the stage level. The last time we had entered right at the top of the tiers of seating. I found the guide and said we would make our own way back to the coach park as we were dur to visit a hotel for lunch and the a mountain-top village. We stopped at a cafe for an ice cream and a lemonade drink that had a squirt of orange in it - absolutely lush.

Lunch at the hotel was predictably pasta - I'm not a great fan... Not even a lukewarm fan if I'm honest. Several options were on offer but they were all pasta of one sort or other. A bit like going into a chippy and all they have are fat chips, skinny chips, crinkle cut chips, a huge whole potato dropped in a pan of fat... I tried my best. "It's just flour and water," I kept telling myself and then I'd think, "Oh yuck it's just flour and water..."

After lunch the coach took us up to a village called Castelmola. The guide's pronunciation made it sound more like Castelmora. There would be many steps of steep streets and I'd had enough. The coach driver was happy enough to let us stay on the coach. We had the front row seats so had a good view and he just left the driving seat, sat back in the seats opposite us, put his feet up and went to sleep, snorting and snoring as the mood took him. I had the A4 sketchbook with me and, with time limited, opted to use a pen to sketch the scene before the coach.

I must have done something right, as several passengers when they climbed back onto the coach and walked past us said "Wow!" or something similar. Once we set off down the hillside back to our ship, docked in Catania, it started to rain heavily. We spent the night in Horizons bar listening to Tom and Maris. I'm not a late owl these days I'm afraid and if I try to be then I just go to sleep wherever I am anyway. We caught their 10:00pm slot and then had to leave them with one spot still to go.

Index to come...

Messina Duomo Basilica

In September 2014 we were on a cruise, taking in various ports in and near Italy. This day we docked in Messina, Sicily and as part of a sight-seeing excursion we visited the Duomo or basilica of Messina.

In particular the visit was timed to end at the basilica and we were dropped off in the square in good time to watch the animated clock tower performance at twelve noon. The ship had been intending to leave at twelve thirty which would have meant missing this, but they extended the "all aboard" deadline to allow tours and independent passengers to see the clock.

It was built by the Normans, those descendants of the Norsemen who hadn't quite done with wanting to spread out from Scandinavia searching for warmer places to spend winter in. The church was consecrated in 1197, the King and Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and his Queen Constance I of Sicily being on hand to witness the ceremony be performed by Archbishop Barardo.

We had time before the show to have a quick look inside the cathedral. It contains the 13th century tomb of Conrad IV, a king of Germany and Sicily, but repeated earthquakes (the last in 1908) and the bombing of WWII means most of the church is reconstructed.

The campanile or clock tower has several interesting features. On the side facing the basilica are two clock faces: the lower one is a perpetual calendar with a rotating outer ring showing the day and month, with a marble statue of an angel, just discernable on the left side of the dial on the photo, pointing out the day, whilst moveable panels within the ring ensure that the moveable feasts such as Easter are always correctly shown. Underneath the central star-pointed sun a panel shows the currrent year. The top dial is a planetarium and shows the nine planets geared and spaced in true scale to rotate around the central sun, whilst the astological signs of the Zodiac show which sign each planet is within.

On the side of the tower facing the square are animated displays. At twelve noon the souvenir sellers stop their incessant peddling of their tea towels, magnets, wooden fold-up fruit bowls etc. and the clock chimes the hour. Following this, the lion in the top window waves his flag, wags his tail and tilts his head back to roar. And it really does give a very realistic and loud roar!

Then the giant cockerel flaps his wings and crows whilst two legendary defenders of Messina ring the bells at either side of the cockeral. Just below an angel hands a letter to Messina's patron saint the Madonna of the letters whilst the figures of St Paul and ambassadors of Messina pass before her and bow. In the next window a different biblical scene is shown during each quarter of the year. As the loudspeakers play the Ave Maria, the next window comes to life. A golden church, representing the Sanctuary of the Madonna at Montalto, appears rising from behind a cloud as a dove flies in circles overhead; robed figures turn and bow to a throne as they pass before it. In the bottom window a different classical figure (Apollo, Mars, Diana etc.) appears, a different figure each day of the week, each driving a chariot pulled by a different animal. I totally missed any movement in some of the windows, perhaps they move too slow given the short time we were there.

No matter how clever and intricate something is, these days it generally has to be judged against the latest Hollywood CGI and, against such wonders, the clock seems to be very slow and intermittent. Feedback and ratings on websites seem to show mixed reception. In 1933 when it was first installed, it must have knocked everyone's socks off. Even today, the first time the lion's head is thrown back and the loud roar comes from the tower, it is a brilliant moment.

At the end of the show, a few people clapped, a few cheered, the tour guides waved impatient flags, the peddlers pounced and the independent travellers from the ship shot off to dash down the hill and onto the ship before it sailed!

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Ornate Street Lighting

I know I live in - well near these days - Blackpool but I'm ignoring illuminations and to be honest, the UK altogether for this entry. Having travelled around Europe quite a bit we have come across many examples of older or just simply decorative street lighting and it's become a habit to look out for them.

As most of our travels have been on cruise ships, we don't tend to see a lot of places at night, so most of these shots will be daytime. But that does make it easier to see detail on the lamp standards and finials. We'll start gently with this view of St Tropez.

Villefranche nestles between Nice on the French Riviera and Monaco. This street is named the Hidden Street and it runs parallel with the seafront and is totally enclosed. It is lit with what seem to be ancient housings containing more modern electric lights.

Housings that look as though they should be holding flaming pitch-covered lengths of wood or bundles of twigs always get my attention. This one is above a gateway into the ancient city of Rhodes.

Another year and back on the French Riviera; this is Sanary-sur-Mer. Wouldn't it be wonderful to sit on the Promenade and listen to a concert in this band stand with it's old-fashioned lighting?

We had just got off our ship in the harbour at Ajaccio, Corsica and this street lamp stood out against the deep of the blue sky.

Koper in Slovenia. I particularly enjoy looking around those medieval cities where many of the street lights are attached to buildings rather than lamp posts, because the streets are so narrow.

These lights are a touch more modern, but at least a bit of imagination has been applied to the design. They sit on the end of a pier at Limone on Lake Garda, Italy.

Lamp posts this time. This is Funchal on the island of Madeira out in the Canaries.

And another one in Valetta in Malta.

We went a long way to see this one. It's in Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom in Orlando. The flag was a clue wasn't it...?

The lamp standards in Venice have pink glass in their casings. Perhaps to make the most of the colours of the Doges' Palace?

Also in Venice, we found a dragon holding up a bunch of umbrellas! Well just the one wouldn't keep it dry...

The medieval city of Kotor in Montenegro has such narrow streets and nestles so close under the mountain that the light finds it hard to penetrate and the street lights were still glowing when we arrived one morning.

A lovely bit of decorative ironwork in Palermo, Sicily.

Piombino in Italy and a street that I just happened to glance down as we passed it.

For most things architectural it's hard to beat Spain's wonderful city of Barcelona. It's a city where your neck should be constantly stretching upwards to make sure you don't miss anything and for this article I'm going to finish with a second look at Barcelona's magnificent street lights below.

Curiosities - Buildings and Infrastructure Index

A Wander Through Palermo, Sicily

Monday 21 May 2018. Marella Explorer is on her first cruise. We are on Marella Explorer. At eight o'clock in the morning she slides into Palermo after a day at sea and we prepare for the first port of our cruise.

We have no excursion booked for today. We've never been here before so will just get off the ship and have a walk round. The map we got from Destinations Services last night shows a few things of interest.

This is our first chance to see the pointy end of the ship without walking off the dock into the water and almost everyone stops on their way out of the port to take a photo or two. A great many taxi drivers, bus reps and more desperate men eager to give piggy back rides are waiting to accost us outside the port gates. It doesn't put them off having watched us refuse a score of their colleagues before we reach them. We have to cross the road and get into the city streets before leaving them behind.

I read that Palermo is not the richest of cities. Not that I'm entirely certain what makes a city rich... There are some wonderful buildings and some areas of poverty but that is surely true of most cities? I find these little quirky kiosks enchanting and even the wall full of old overlaid posters on the left adds somehow to the city's character.

But amongst the more neglected areas are some green oases, piazzas and impressive buildings with some good architecture. We came off the ship armed with a map but having plunged into the streets straight way to avoid the press of taxi drivers etcetera, we ended up heading off at an angle to where we wanted to go. This is the Politeama Theatre which holds an audience of 950 and was opened in 1874. The statuary over the entrance represents the Triumph of Apollo and Euterpe, flanked by two knights on horseback.

Before the theatre is a statue of Ruggero Settimo a Counter-Admiral of the Sicilian Navy who retook Malta from the Napoleonic forces and who later became Prime Minister of Sicily following the 1848 revolution that brought about the independent Sicilian Kingdom. This did not last more than a few months however and he spent the next 12 years in exile in Malta, returning to act as the first President of the Italian Senate following the Unification of Italy.

We sat on the low wall to the right whilst I got my bearings on the map and worked out which direction we needed to go to find the old cathedral of Palermo.

Setting off again, we soon came to the Massimo Theatre. This opened in 1897 as the largest opera house in Italy. Above the seating of the stalls there are six galleries of seating. An audience of 1381 can be accommodated.

The final scene of Godfather III was shot here.

Another old kiosk, housing a news stand and tobacconists shop.

Whilst the Mediterranean area certainly gets the heat, it is a dryer heat than we get in the UK and more conducive to the longevity of ancient cast iron lamp posts.

Our route to the old cathedral took us through a maze of narrow streets, most half the width of this at the most and filled with market stalls and the bustle of people, scooters and dogs. We got lost and were trying to head back to the main streets when we overheard someone pointing out the way to the cathedral to someone else. We followed the path indicated!

One stall had a section of tuna, cut crosswise behind the gills. It was at least 12 inches in diameter. Here, we have reached the cathedral area and a protected section of Roman mosaic flooring.

The Roman paving was just to the side of the cathedral grounds and was behind me as I took this photograph. Palermo Cathedral was first built in 1185 though most of what is visible today dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and a great twenty-year project from 1781-1801.

The grounds were well laid out and there were lots of people walking about. A group of novice nuns were taking turns to dance with visitors and then take group selfies with a great deal of laughter and enjoyment. I don't know what they are going to do about Maria...

The portico of the main entrance dates from c1465.

The cathedral is connected to the Archbishops' Palace by arches across the street.

Porta Nuova. It was originally built in the 1400s, and after Emperor Charles V's visit in 1535 after defeating Tunis it was rebuilt in a more ambitious style in 1583/4. Unfortunately it was burned down in 1667 but was rebuilt once more two years later.

On the other side there are two pairs of telamons (supports in the shape of human figures) in the form of the defeated Moors.

Under the canopy glimpsed in the previous photo we stop for a latte machiatto - our favourite Italian beverage (though Limoncello comes close...)

The Praetorian Fountain was built in Florence in 1554 and in 1573 was bought complete with statues by the Senate of Palermo. It was dismantled into 644 pieces and arrived in Palermo the following year, requiring the demolition of several buildings to create a space for it. Unfortunately some statues had been damaged in transit and others were missing altogether so it was 1581 before it took its present appearance.

We walked the length of Via Vittorio Emanuelle which took us downhill all the way to the coast near the port.

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Italian Flavours Cruise, Thomson Majesty, 29 August - 5 September 2014

This is a series of articles covering a cruise around Italy's south and west coasts on the Thomson Majesty cruise ship in 2014.

Click on each of the photos below to link to the associated articles and photographs.

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