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| [NOTE: 6/8/04: We arrived home on Saturday.....the flight from Rome to DC was uneventful. We had a great trip and I am working on finishing the reports in a timely manner.]
The sun is out this morning.....and the streets are filled with throngs of cruise ship passengers--in town for a day in Taormina. We take the shuttle bus down to the parking garage and make a detour to the small village set high above Taormina--Castelmola. We wind up the hill and pass many hotels that I have read about...without realizing in fact how far from the center of town they really are. The road continues to climb and the views over the water and into the interior are spectacular. We reach Castelmola--there are several hotels and restaurants up here--but I wouldn't want to be staying up here and have to face the ascent and descent on a regular basis. We take a quick glance around and head back down--it takes almost 30 minutes to reach the autostrada entrance--and we head off to Messina to pick up the ferry to the mainland. We decide to postpone Savoca...the other Godfather location in the area... until our next trip because it would entail a similar winding drive up to the town and back down. Messina is a surprisingly clean and bright city....in addition to an earthquake in 1908, there was significant bomb damage from World War II....with broad streets and low buildings. We drive around the town for a few minutes....the main drag is a tree shaded boulevard....and then head for the ferry. There are actually two ferry companies--Bluvia and Caronte-Tourist--but we don't know if there is any difference, so we chose the first one we come to--Bluvia. The entrance is a roundabout approach through the warehouse district and there are no cars waiting as we pull up to the ticket office. As soon as we drive onto the ferry, they pull up the gangplank and get underway. These are substantial ships...in addition to cars and trucks, the railroad cars going to and from Sicily are carried on the ferries. It is only about three miles across the Straits of Messina...we sit out on the deck for the "ocean voyage" watching Sicily recede as Calabria comes closer. Plans to build a bridge to cross the straits are now very active; construction is scheduled to start in 2005 but there is skepticism about whether it will ever be built. In less than thirty minutes we are in Villa San Giovanni and headed down the highway to Reggio di Calabria. We are staying with a young Italian friend--Giuseppe Aloi--whom we met on the internet (the Compuserve Italian Forum) in 1995. He has stayed with us in Washington a couple of times and this is our first chance to visit him. We find our way downtown....Reggio is a long narrow city built very close to the water. As we reach the center, we are driving along a wide treelined street with a broad promenade over the water on the right and a tree covered park on the left, with some grand palazzi set behind the park...Sicily seems close enough to touch across the narrow strait. It is a very impressive entrance into Reggio. Giuseppe is waiting for us along this stretch....we use our cell phones to make the final rendezvous and he gets in the car and directs us to his house. Giuseppe was a student when we first met him in Siracusa, but now he has a travel business called Southern Italy Tours, with offices in San Diego and Reggio di Calabria. We find a quasi-legal parking space in front of his house and unload. His office is on the ground floor of his building--right in the center of town--but an elevator takes us up to his apartment on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The apartment is terrific--there is a fantastic roof terrace with views over the straits to Sicily and very comfortable living areas. We unpack and get settled before lunch. We also take advantage of his washing machine--we have accumulated a lot of dirty clothes--and his wireless, high-speed internet access. We go to lunch at a close by restaurant--Al Torrione. We have a great seafood antipasto and Diana has shrimp cocktail followed by a local pasta--strascinati, a leaf shaped pasta--with a tasty swordfish sauce. We talk about our trip and Giuseppe's difficult group of 300 new age church members coming for a tour of Italy timed to coincide with the Dalai Lama's visit--a major project that is driving him crazy (they arrive next week). After lunch, Giuseppe and I take a walk around Reggio...down the pedestrian-only main street to the archeological museum (where we will go tomorrow to see the famous Riace bronzes) and back along the Lungomare (the city has built the promenade over the hidden railroad tracks) with its broad sidewalks. It also has a lower level with parks and access to the beach. The sun is out and there is nice breeze blowing in from the water....a very pleasant day. We also visit the Duomo which is modern....the 1908 earthquake also had a devastating effect on Reggio...and walk back to the house. Diana finishes the laundry and Giuseppe and I catch up on some work. We all watch the sun set over the Sicilian mountains from the roof terrace and get in the car to have dinner on the beach at Scilla...just north of Reggio. NOTE: Scilla and Charybdis are from Greek myth and are important "characters" in the Odyssey.... Scylla: A beautiful maiden transformed into a monster sometimes described as having six dogs' heads on long necks. Menaced Odysseus when he passed her lair off the coast of Sicily. Charybdis: Mythological whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. Together with Scylla, one of twin perils faced by Odysseus. The approach from the autostrada is quite spectacular...even in the twilight. You make a wide arc from the highway and appear to heading straight into the sea past the huge headland that dominates the harbor in Scilla. We walk along the beach...looking at the lights of Sicily and the shadows of Stromboli, the nearest Aeolian Island. We have dinner at one of the seafood restaurants along the beach.....Alla Pescatora. We all share an excellent non-seafood antipasto with local salamis, cheese, olives, sun-dried tomato, etc. Diana and Giuseppe have risotto--one with shrimp and one with swordfish--which is very well prepared, followed by involtini di pesce spada (stuffed swordfish rolls) which are slightly overcooked. I have a nice plate of spaghetti with small clams and a piece of grilled swordfish, which was fine. A pleasant dinner with a nice bottle of local Calabrian wine in a nice setting...... Tomorrow we plan to visit the archeological musuem to see the famous Riace bronzes.... |
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