Strait of Messina

 

As the morning light poured past a crack of an opening in our curtain I could see we were gliding past a distant land formation. These curtains, when fully drawn, let in no light, so that if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night for any reason, the room is in pitch darkness. A trip to the loo without a torch or a phone is a real challenge as you are feeling your way around the furniture and other unexpected obstacles. Incidentally, during the night, even if you do draw back the curtains, it is still totally dark. 

I drew back the curtain fully and stepped out with our binoculars into the cold wind on our balcony to make out a rugged mountainous coast that was obviously Sicily. As our ship proceeded along the Tyrrhenian Sea, the coast drew closer and on checking the atlas I realised that we we were passing Palermo. I popped upstairs for a quick breakfast of yoghurt and fruit. While there I saw a small distant island on the port side. I guess, after checking the atlas, that this could have been a lonely little outpost called Usica Island.

Albina again postponed going to the Beginners Bridge Club at 10am. She was still recovering from yesterday's feast. I guess by the time she eventually gets to the Beginners Bridge Club there there will be no beginners left on the vessel. We spent the morning on our private little sundeck though it was still breezy and the temperature just below 15 degrees. I checked at the ship store which was selling watches but the young assistant confessed that they had no facilities to install new batteries to my watch. I will have to try getting the watch working again when we land in Brindisi tomorrow. We went upstairs for lunch where I enjoyed a magificent roast pork with caramelized red onion plait, while Albina satisfied hereself with some salad mixes. We espied even more islands on the port side, which must have been the Lipari Islands. I knew Stromboli volcano lies somewhere to the north of these islands, somewhere far in the distance beyond our vision. But on the Sicilian side, I could espy a town approaching, probably the town of Milazzo, all white in the mid-afternoon sun, dominated by a very high funnel or tower. 

Then, a surprise. The captain announced that the volcano on Stromboli was actually visble on the port side. I clambered onto the open air deck to take a picture. It was obvious that Stromboli was much further way, as the view of it was quite faint. But it was still clearly visible to the naked eye, and I could see a plume of smoke emerging from the top. Curiously, Stromboli was the volcano from which the main characters of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" were expelled from the depths after completing their journey. I also remember the somewhat sombre Isabella Rossellini film about life on that austere island.

In the meantime, I went for a presentation with slides on the history of the Knights of St John, starting in the Holy Land and ending at Malta. Curiously, his version was still very much an outdated white Christian version with crusaders seen exclusively as the good guys, but it semed to satisfy his audience. Other than that, it must have been quite  a reasonable lecture, as I only slept through the last 20 minutes. Afterwards I fetched Albina up to the Observatory on the top deck to watch us glad through the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily. It was certainly a splendid sight although difficult to photograph both the coasts in one shot. I had to a 4 second video to complete the view. The Strait is only 3 kilometers across, the same distance as the bridge over the Tagus, under which we sailed. Could they build a bridge across this narrow bit of water? Undoubtedly, it could help the impoverished local economy of Calabria and Sicily. The problem however is that this is in an area prone to earthquakes and that could endanger lives unnecessarily while crossing the bridge. Also, there were fears it would increase the local influence of the Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta. Amazing that local gangsters can still influence the activities of the state on such a strategic decision. 

As we returned to our cabin and prepared to change for dinner at the posh Borealis Restaurant, we took a last look at Sicily. We had now exited the Strait into the Ionian Sea. It was dusk and the sun was setting behind a mountain leaving the evening sky brownish-red on the Sicilian side. There was something, however,  about the shape of that mountain in the fading light, which made me check my atlas again. There was no doubt about it. It was actually Mount Etna. I took a picture of the ominous volcano resting against its reddish background. Not bad. I had photographed two volcanoes in the one day.

 

We enjoyed our posh dinner at the Borealis. Actually, each meal you order there is sink or swim. Camouflaged under  strange names on the menu lurk meals which could represent heaven or hell. My starter, described as black marinated cod, turned out to be a rubbery substance which I could barely chew, while the guy sitting at the next table to ours, refused to even taste it after the first bite. But the Hunter Chicken that followed as the main course, which consisted of a good size piece of white meat, stuffed with a molten orange coloured cheese, and wrapped in slices of well grilled bacon, was simply divine. I relished every bite. My neighbour at the next table thought so too. So it's the luck of the draw what you pick on the menu. Albina was equally surprised with the results of her eventual choices, as it was not what she had expected, but luckily she enjoyed it. Then back to our cabin. And afterwards, I still have my quiz night at 10pm.       

Sure enough I joined my usual team in the Morning Light Pub for the next session. It being St David's Day, the subject of tonight's quiz was all things to do with Wales. We had a secret weapon in our team, namely Helen, whose parents were both Welsh. She knew all the details to do with St David and even Richard Burton's real name. I had some input too. I knew Henry VII was born in Pembroke Castle. I knew that Mrs Thatcher's cabinet minister who was born in Wales was Geoffey Howe, and I knew the sign of the zodiac for St David was Pisces, because it was also Albina's sign. At the end of the day we won. 15 out of 15. We won a bottle of bubbly which we left with Helen and Tony. A satisfactory day all round.