Day 4—Just when we thought we were out…

Stromboli...the volcano, not the treat!

About 7AM, we passed close by Stromboli, which is of course a volcano/island.  It made us hungry for Stromboli the pizza pocket! 

Messina, Sicily

Anyway, we visited Messina, Sicily, which was founded by the Greeks about 2700 years ago.  They came from multiple city-states, including Athens and Sparta, so of course they fought all the time amongst themselves.  We were not due to arrive in the port until almost noon, so we had a relaxing morning.  After breakfast, we went to a morning trivia contest…for general knowledge.  We joined a team with a couple from England, a couple for Australia, and us.  They invited us either because we are from the US or because we are “young’.  Maybe both?  Anyway, out of about 8-10 teams, our team won!  The prize?  Uh, some little tickets which at the end of the cruise we can apparently trade for t-shirts or other paraphernalia.  Oh well.  We won!! 

Statue of The Virgin Mary at the Port

As we pulled into port, we noticed a statue/monument to the Virgin Mary.  We learned later that she is the Patron Saint for Messina.  Apparently, some people from the town went to visit Mary in about 40 or 50 A.D.  They brought back with them the letter she wrote giving her blessing to the town.  A few strands of her hair were in the letter, so they saved both and parade them through the city every year on June 4th (I think).

Savoca, Sicily, and the road we came up on, in a huge bus!

Our tour met at 12:15, and we headed out for a bus to Savoca, Sicily.  Of course, we had never heard of it either, but it was the backdrop for “Corleone, Sicily” in the movie series “The Godfather”. 

Scene from The Godfather.

Scene with fewer actors!

St. Michael's Church

From the little bar (one of the scenes in the movie) we trekked up the hill to St. Michael’s Church, a Greek Orthodox church used for some of the shots, and then up the road further to St. Lucia Church.  The steep road was used for the wedding procession scene in the first movie.  Both churches were pretty in a rustic kind of way. 

St. Lucia's

Holy Trinity Church (Scene of the Wedding)

Back on the bus, we headed to another church, the (Trinity).  This was the one they used “for” the wedding.  It was amazing for such a very small church, it was packed with beautiful art, including an interesting rendition of the Holy Trinity.

A fort near the sea.

Artistic depiction of the Holy Trinity.

After our tour, we returned the ship and headed off to dinner pretty quickly.  The food was amazing, and the service awesome!  Of course!  Theresa got the filet mignon, and Bill got Bucatini, a strange pasta much like spaghetti, but hollow like a straw.  It was very good, but difficult to eat, since you can’t slurp it (it’s a straw!) and it is too thick to twirl well.  After dinner, they had an acapella show, which Theresa enjoyed!