After a whirlwind night at the grande pacific dining room and the spinnaker lounge, we found ourselves parked in the port of Messina, Sicily. My coworker, who shall not be named, told me Messina was ugly and boring, but contrary to his belief, we found Messina to be relaxing and quaint. We disembarked and headed straight to an ATM for some euros. We opted not to look at a map and instead to follow the crowd which led us to the main cathedral and the most mechanical astrological clock in Europe. Of course we knew none of this at the time, so we jumped on a city sites tour bus and listened to a history of the city. Instead of shopping, we started walking. Fortunately, we happened upon a fabulous bakery! The owner was kind enough to show us how to dip our sweet bread into the fresh puréed strawberries with homemade cream. It was delicious! We returned at noon to watch the mechanical clock work it’s magic with the lion roaring, rooster crowing, the 12 disciples parading around etc. Unfortunately, when we left the square we some unwanted prepubescent followers. They even hiked a hill to follow us. Blind ambition I suppose. It was a little nerve wracking but we finally shook them and found a fabulous little quiet outdoor cafe. Their English was just as rusty as our Italian, but all we needed was vino bianco, caprese, and pizza!
Back at the ship we went back to the pool for some R&R and loaded coronas. Tonight we went to the show, which just happened to be magic….not exactly our forte. But the dancing at spinnaker lounge. Anil our server saves our table and we seem to have a way of getting people to dance with us. Some might call it peer pressure but I’d like it to think of it more as enlightenment. Tomorrow is another tough day at sea while we head up toward Croatia!
Seasoned Traveler 