|
Roccella Ionica
to Siracusa, Sicilia, Italy
March 31 - April 11, 2004
Travelogue #2 Spring 2004
We are in no great hurry to leave
here, it is safe, a good restaurant, new multinational neighbors
and it is free. We have a Swiss boat behind us, a German boat
across the pontoon, a couple from Sweden a few more down and
a couple from Holland on the next pontoon. All of them are heading
east as soon as they get their final chores done. We meet at
the restaurant daily and chat a bit. This restaurant has pizza
which is marketed by the meter; the width is about 12 inches.
There is a half meter, eight euros, and a meter, price unknown.
The pizzas are the kind I like, lots of cheese and toppings;
the half meter (small) feeds two easily.
We walk to town daily as it is
a nice walk along the sea with a beautiful white sand beach and
the shipwreck. The
town is linear along the sea and has all kinds of stores and
churches. I took several pictures of the castle above the town.
The town buildings are made of concrete, but the sand in the
concrete is apparently from the beach. Each building is crumbling
as is the cement yard at the marina. This keeps the contractors
busy. Helena from Sweden is a wine advisor and she guided me
to a red wine from this region, Reggio Calabria; Leroy, you wouldn't
believe what you can buy with very few Euros.
We leave on Sunday for Riposto,
Sicily. We have been in two previous areas where the large ship
traffic is funneled into a narrow lane: the Dardanelles and Cape
Malea at the southeast of the Peloponnesus. We are now crossing
another such place. The area just south of the strait of Messina,
the narrows between the toe of the boot and Sicily, is very busy.
All of the ship traffic from the eastern med which is going to
France, Spain or the west coast of Italy passes through this
area. We will pass through the straits another day, but the traffic
funneled through this area is to be observed closely, and we
have several large ships pass nearby.
We stop in Marina
Etna, which is in Riposto at the base of Mt. Etna. We are
tucked back in a corner, but tied to the wall where the pedestrians
all walk, and this is Sunday when they walk. As usual we settle
in quickly and take a walk through the town center. There is
a construction project in the plaza in front of the Cathedral.
There is to be a play/production tonight at 8pm. We have a couple
of hours and plan to be back for a Passion
Play. There are four elevated sets, one for Herod, one for
Pilot, one for Caiaphas, and one for the three crosses. The play
is preceded by a 4 block march through the streets of all of
the costumed participants including Roman soldiers, beggars,
street people, the courts of Herod and Pilate, Mary Magdalene,
Barabas, the two thieves, Jesus on a donkey, the palm bearers,
etc. There is great music accompanying the spectacle throughout
the whole event which lasts almost 3 hours. We are about 5 rows
from the front and see it all. In one of the final scenes there
is thunder and lightening and the accompanying music, played
loudly, is the Star Wars theme music by John Williams. It was
very impressive. We consider this to be another of our fortunate
music/theatre happenings for our trips.
April 5, Riposto, Sicily. We
had a great first evening in Riposto. Supposedly a significant
part of the Sicilian population is connected with the mafia,
and one can let their imagination wander when in the town center.
They are slick-dressed, the older men have either burr haircuts
or 60s-styled duck tails, and chains of gold with their turtleneck
sweaters. The books say there is some purse snatching and pickpocket
activity here in Sicily, so you leave valuables on the boat or
put them where you have a hand on them.
We are up early enough to see
Mt. Etna before the
daily haze arrives. The smoke is blowing south out of the vent,
and the sides are snow-covered for a ways down the slopes. It
is a pretty sight but most certainly a threatening position for
an active volcano. Riposto is absolutely at the bottom of the
slope where the magma would meet the sea if it were to flow this
direction. After a slow breakfast we begin to wonder why we want
to stay here for another day, at this time. Very shortly we are
checked out and on our way south to Acitrezza.
This is not on most maps, but is a very small fishing town. The
town bay is described to have mooring for a few yachts. We have
entered and placed ourselves in a secure place between two fishing
boats, similar to Mexican shrimp boats. Soon there is a boat
of 4 Frenchmen arriving and we invite them to join us in our
narrow slot, figuring if there are two here we will be less likely
to be asked to move. Didn't work. We are told that the boat for
this slot would be here after dark and perhaps we should move,
it is 6 pm. Kathy and I move to the other side and med tie to
the town quay. The French boat left and went south to Catania
about 6 miles. We are now secure on the wall and ready to explore
the town in search of a place to eat. It is stated that the Sicilian
method of preparing fish is extraordinary, we will see.
This place is also noted in Homers
Odyssey as the place where Cyclops lived and in fact there are
about 5 or 6 small volcanic rock islands just out of the entrance.
These are the stones that Cyclops threw at Odysseus. This is
now the Ciclopi Marine reserve. Cyclops must have been a pretty
big guy, larger than Paul Bunyan for sure, if he could throw
these large islands at a boat. They are perhaps 100 feet in circumference
and the largest is 60 feet high. It would sure get your attention
if they were being hurled at you.
Tuesday morning and what are
we here for? After breakfast we depart for Syracuse, Siracusa,
where we will end our southbound adventure. We really wanted
to go to Malta but time and weather say no, sorry about that
Victor, we wanted to go. We again enjoy an invigorating sail
as we head south. We pass Catania the home of a large NATO air
base and the principal port for import of oil. Most of the petroleum
products in Italy are imported and refined here in Sicily. We
are now in the port in Syracuse and tied to a pontoon. The crook
in the marina office, perhaps a member of the m____, asked how
long we were staying and I said 6 days. He promptly asked for
a deposit for a day or so. I asked the daily price and was floored
when he replied, and told him we would be here 1 day; he was
outrageous in his price. I later showed him the price we had
paid in Riposto which is newer and nicer with more amenities.
He patted me on the back as if he had known me for years and
reduced the price by 40%. We are here thru Easter Sunday.
Tonight on our way to a recommended
restaurant we passed several people, Italian I presume. I would
say "Buonasera" which is good evening in Italian. In
all cases I got a look as if I were a foreigner and could not
speak Italian. I am positive I am saying the correct words, I
am not so sure that these people speak Italian. When I say "Howdy"
to someone they recognize that I am not an Italian and we can
go from there, however when I say buonasera, they respond incorrectly.
I am surprised at how few Italians speak English. There is a
higher percentage of Turkish people who speak English than Italians.
Truthfully I doubt that we have run into more than a dozen Italians
with even a rudimentary knowledge of English. Also, at the restaurant,
highly recommended, I find that if you order sword fish, you
get sword fish, and no more. You essentially have to order your
potatoes and gravy extra, and your beans if you want them. Incorrectly
ordering can present you with a pretty scant meal. I knew this
but it really never stuck until last night's meal. Piece of breaded
sword fish on a piece of lettuce is not what I would call supper!
We are back on the boat and all is well so we learned some more
today.
New day, more to see and learn.
We found the internet café in old town and got there before
the obligatory siesta from 1 to 5. The Old town dating to 734
BC has a warren of narrow streets. This was the capital of Magna
Grecia and has been overthrown several times in the years by
succeeding conquerors. The buildings are uniformly 5 stories
high with small balconies over the streets. In our stroll we
came across a student group from Rome, however they are originally
from Notre Dame. They are on a one year study trip to Rome and
this is one of several trips to the hinterlands for them. It
was nice to hear English. At lunch I observed the proper eating
of spaghetti. It has always been a dilemma for me -to slurp or
not to slurp- the spaghetti. These people, more likely than not
experts at eating spaghetti, slurp if the strand reaches to less
than half way to the plate otherwise they bite the strand and
let fall to the plate. With a long strand one could just elevate
the head and mouth to make slurping legitimate, I suppose. Another
aside, Syracuse is a town of some 100,000 plus people, thus not
a small town. However, there are only 2 stop lights and one of
them just flashes yellow continuously. It is amazing to watch
the traffic flow and to gain confidence in crossing streets as
there are no "Walk" signs either.
There are posters
about town which tell about the church activities for this whole
week. Kathy has found a listing for a musical presentation, "In
Passione Domini", tonight at the Church of San Francesco
all'Immacolata. It is a small choral group presenting first a
Mozart piece then a piece composed by an artist from Sicilia,
and finally the Requiem of Gabriel Faure. The music is quite
good and the church is beautiful. It was built in the late 1600's.
There was a couple seated behind us who are from Vermont. She
is a concert viola player, one of the co-founders of the Boston
Camerata and he is a retired art history professor. After the
concert we are invited to join them for a glass of wine at their
home. For the past twenty years they have lived here for three
months in the spring each year and home to Vermont for the remainder.
They have a lovely 3 story apartment, I believe they are called
flats, which overlooks a castle through the bedroom window and
to the east is open sea for a glorious moon rise tonight. He
lived in Turkey from the age of three months to 15 years and
Turkey was the principal topic if the evening. They have filled
us in on the places to shop and eat, and where to buy wine from
this region. We walked back to the boat about midnight under
a clear and practically full moon.
Thursday, April 8 in Syracuse,
Sicily. The days are getting better, no rain and spring is coming.
We have walked to the Greek
Theatre, the local archeological museum and a pizza parlor.
The pizza parlor was the best. We have already seen a few theatres
but each shows something different. This one is carved
from solid rock. It is a grand project that must have taken years.
The overlook from the theatre is the Bay of Syracuse. The museum
is filled with ceramic artifacts and a few sculpted heads. The
pizza is good and the beer is cold.
Some of the banks here have a
quaint method of operating with one employee in the bank. The
entry to the bank is a vertical circular tube, much like the
pneumatic tubes that were formerly used to send articles in department
stores, the entry door closes and another door on the other side
opens so you can enter the bank lobby. The clerk will admit no
more people than he thinks appropriate. Once in the tube, unbeknownst
to me, you are scanned for weapons or metal. If you fail this
test the entry door is reopened and you exit to the outside.
There are small security boxes to leave your guns or whatever
before re-entering and passing to the clerk's desk. It is very
controlled and safe, unless you are claustrophobic.
There is a relatively new
cathedral in Syracuse that is noteworthy. It is shaped somewhat
like an early space
capsule with the top drawn out to a peak. The building is
250 feet tall with a 60 foot statue on top. It is 4700 square
meters, on the main
floor, and that is 50625 square feet. It is one and a fourth
acres, in the main sanctuary. It is more than 300 feet wide and
will seat 11,000 people who can enter through any of 18 doors.
The main doors are about 10 feet tall and 14 feet wide, weighing
more than a ton each. This building is visible throughout the
whole town. There is a second sanctuary beneath the first and
it is essentially as large, just doesn't have the same headroom.
This is Good Friday and we have
just returned from a trip to Old Town, Ortigia, where there was
a procession from one of the major churches. The procession was
led by older men in robes, followed by their ladies in feminine
robes, then the cart carrying the statue of Mary, a section of
young men chanting and singing songs for the occasion, the bier
containing the body of Christ, then the city band. Again the
band was playing very good music appropriate to the occasion.
We were in front of the church when they began the procession
and about two hours later were in Archimedes Piazza when they
passed there. We strolled the old town on this foggy night and
stopped to have a cup of cappuccino before returning to Traumerei.
Speaking of Archimedes, he was
a resident of Syracuse when there was a war between Syracuse
and Rome. He had devised the great catapult and a system of mirrors
and lenses which concentrated sun's rays and directed them to
the sail of the Roman ships to set them afire. He was killed
by a Roman soldier despite strict orders to capture this genius
alive. He is said to be buried near the Greek theatre.
We have enjoyed Easter Sunday
at the Grand Cathedral and walked to town to see the festivities
and stylish people dressed for Easter. This will conclude this
log.
|
