Oceana Day 18 - Messina, Sicily

Thursday 8 December – Messina.

I am sitting here writing this opposite Lembit Opik who is onboard as a speaker. It was an interesting arrival at this ancient city, rebuilt after earthquake and war. We sailed past the Madonna of the Letter, which guards the harbour.

Lots of domes of churches interrupt the skyline. I set off ashore on my own to explore. Walking past the Church of the Annunciation of the Catalans, I reached Cathedral Square with its Fountain of Orion. In the Duomo there was a service going on and it was lovely to pause and listen to the Latin Mass while lighting some candles. On my way out I met a table-mate so we continued to look around together. We set off up the main street to find out what the large dome was on.

It was the Chiesa Annunziata del Carmine, where we spoke to two police officers who asked us what the ship was called and which company it belonged to. Then we headed up the hill to the Sanctuary of Montalto. It was quite a climb up via steps and roads and was not enhanced by the occasional heavy showers.

In all the churches we entered there were services under way. It is a special day here in Messina. Next to the Duomo there is a statue of the Virgin Mary around which a ceremony was taking place at midday. There were officials and police etc and when we went to look at it afterwards, it had been decorated with garlands of daisies and flowers. We wanted to be back at in the Cathedral Square for midday to see the special clock.

After the hours were struck a variety of gilded mechanical figures performed various acts – the lion wagged his tail and roared, the cock crowed thrice and flapped its wings, the disciples preceded by an angel, bowed to Christ and a model of the church rose up out of the ruins. It was quite a sight and took about 15 minutes in all.

My knees were really hurting so I returned to the ship for some lunch and to top up the painkillers. After a pizza in Le Jardin, I went to the cabin for a snooze and am now in Explorers, writing this. The sky is black again and threatening heavy showers but when the sun shines it is warm and lovely. It still doesn’t feel remotely like it will soon be Christmas but I guess when we hit the colder weather it will return. We are now into our last week and this time next week it will all be over. It seems an eternity since we were in Cadiz – our first port and we have been to so many differing places and seen and sensed so much It will take a while to process I think. Still we still have Valencia and Lisbon to visit so it not at all over yet.

It is smart casual, sorry, evening casual tonight and there is a champagne event in the jewellery shop so may find my way there.  The sail away was windy but there were great views on Deck 15 of the city as dusk fell and lights went on.