Day 129 Messina, Italy

Today was wonderful….  This is my first visit to Sicily and it was a good one.  The first thing I saw as we sailed in was a snow covered Mt. Etna.... nice.  Mike, Janet & I left the ship early and hiked all over Messina.  Our first stop was the Sacrario Cristo Re, a war memorial perched high above Messina.  The building is spectacular and the view unbelievable.  It was wonderful walking the streets, up and down the hills, seeing all the wonderful sights.  They have some really lovely churches.  After the Sacrario Cristo Re we walked over to the Madonna di Montalto, another wonderful church….  Then we meandered the streets of Messina, making our way to the Clock Tower at the Piazza Duomo for the noon show.  It was great seeing all the animations similar to the Glockenspiel in Munich that I saw many years ago.  After the show I climbed the clock tower for some more amazing views.  It was pretty cool to see the machinery and behind the scenes characters that appear during the show.  Then we walked along the waterfront to the Neptune Fountain.  Then they walked to the Regional Museum while I walked back to town.  It was a wonderful first time visit to Sicily…