Our hotel, the Hotel Kennedy.
Almost on the sea at Sant. Alessio Siculo. About eight miles
north of Taormina on the East coast of Sicily.
Looking over the town of
Messina. This is almost at the North East corner of Sicily and
you can easily see the mainland of Italy across the water.
(Probably not clear enough in this photo). The town has suffered
many disasters from earthquakes, volcanoes and from heavy carpet
bombing in World War II. After each disaster the town has been
almost completely re-built. We wanted to visit the Cathedral
which has a special clock, but failed to find it in the heavy
traffic. We will try again later.
We found this very modern but
fascinating circular Cathedral at Syracuse. It was opened in
1924 and reaches a height of 102m.
This is the sea front where we
are staying for our first five nights. It has a mixtures of
pebbles and fine black volcanic sand.
At the end of the beach is
this old fortification.
Not far from where we are
staying is Mount Etna. This is as high as you can get by car. In
the foreground is an old larva flow. The volcano is still
active, but hasn't actually erupted for a few years.
At the car park you can see a
chair lift that takes you very much higher, but it didn't appear
to be working today. Anyway the temperature had dropped from 29°
at sea level to just 10° at this height, so I don't think we
were really dressed to go any higher.
Looking down at the sea from
Taormina which is very high in the mountains but quite a beauty
spot and well worth a visit.
Messina Cathedral. Second
attempt we found it. After driving round in circles for twenty
minutes we found a parking spot. Although badly destroyed by
bombing in World War II it has been well restored in the
original style. Alongside is the bell tower which has a number
of golden figures. You can just see them standing out on the
left. At midday they gave a moving display for about twelve
minutes. An enormous loudspeaker roared for the lion, made
sounds like a cock for the golden eagle that flapped its wings,
and then played Schubert's Ave Maria at immense volume while a row
of golden people walked round in a circle.
Inside Messina Cathedral the
very elaborate altar. There was a big service going on when we
arrived. Probably a confirmation service or something similar.
Although we were a bit restricted they did have all the lights
on. When they turned them all off at the end it was really quite
dark.
Sunday 20th June. We had a
long drive right across the island to Mazara del Vallo where we
have our next four nights. Mazara is situated on the
western side just south of Masala where they make the wine. We
must visit Masala before we leave.
Our hotel, the Hotel Hopps is
very difficult to photograph. This is the entrance. It is a
large modern building and very comfortable. We shall be OK for
these four nights before we return to the south east ready for
our trip to Malta.
The hotel's swimming pool is
ten times the size of the last hotel's pool and out of doors.
Much warmer and more comfortable to swim in.
The outside of the Cathedral
at Masala
The principle altar inside the
Cathedral at Masala. The main organ pipes are behind the altar
but played from a detached console
Little boats in the marina at Mazara del Vallo
where we are staying.
MALTA
We were not allowed to take
our Hertz car to Malta so had to leave it on the dockside at
Pozzallo in Sicily. When we got to Malta we took a taxi to find
our hotel in Sliema and found that we had a wonderful room
looking out over the harbour.
Another view from the balcony of our room in
Sliema.
Saturday morning, we organised
a car for tomorrow morning, but decided to spend today exploring
Sliema. The morning was taken up with a cruise round the
harbours of Valletta and Sliema.
Yesterday our taxi driver had told us that an
American ship was due to arrive today. We saw it on our cruise.
An enormous aircraft carrier. There was a helicopter hovering
all the time over the harbour, and a police launch told us to
keep away.
Sunday 27th. We got our new
car this morning. It seems strange driving in a Mediterranean
country with a right hand drive Peugeot 206 on the left hand
side of the road. We visited the Popeye Village over on the west
coast. This was built as the set for the Popeye the Sailor film
and is now a tourist attraction.
This is Golden Bay. One of the few beaches
with sand. Hence the name and the popularity. We had lunch at a
restaurant but never actually went down to the sands as it was
too steep.
The Church at Mosta has an
enormous dome. Being Sunday everything, including Churches is
shut. A bomb fell on this Church in World War II and broke
through the dome. However it never went off. We shall be
returning another day to view it.
Returning back to Sliema in the evening we
drove through Valletta and had another good view of the American
aircraft carrier.
Replica of the German bomb
that fell through the dome at Mosta but didn't explode.
Inside the Church at Mosta
The dome of the Church at
Mosta
The town of Rabat from a distance
Outside of the Church at Rabat
The Citadel at Victoria on the Island of Gozo
The village of Xlendi on the
South Coast of Gozo
Magnificent Church at Nadur on the Island of
Gozo
Another magnificent Church at
Qala on Gozo
Inside the Church at Qala
The Blue Lagoon on the island
of Comino. This is a small island just off the coast of Gozo
between Malta & Gozo. We went there by a little motor boat from
Malta
The outside of the old Cathedral at Syracuse
Inside the Cathedral
Tomorrow,
3rd July 2004, we fly home from Catania to Gatwick
