Sicily

For reasons we do not understand, on our first day on Sicily we glanced at more points of interest and drove more miles than on most days. There was no reason, we just hadn’t planned ahead. We have a very confused memory of Palermo. That day the city was very smoggy and unkempt, with many bags of rubbish—it was trash pick-up day, we saw the trucks.

What we saw through the windshield and in books we have studied, there is much to see, so Palermo is high on the list of places that must be seen again, or in our case, for almost, but not quite, the first time.

Agrigento is the site of early Christian catacombs and churches, and eight Greek temple ruins dating from BC times. This is the only town we heard the fruit and vegetable vendor, with his donkey-drawn cart, singing his own special song.

In the center of Sicily, Enna is an intriguing city built high on a plateau. We drove the steep, but wide streets to the top of the city, for a beautiful view over the countryside and the hilltop towns on the horizon.

Siracusa has many ruins of note. Colonized by the Greeks in 734 BC, a much later curiosity is the Romanesque Church of San Giovanni, where Saint Paul is reported to have preached. The enormous catacombs, second in importance only to those of Rome, were presumably dug by third-century Christians.

Our campsite was on the beach a little south of Catania, with a lot of trees and many more-or-less permanent “camp” sites. We could see slightly-smoking Mt. Etna in the distance as we walked on the beach nearby.

The town of Taormina is a wonderful tourist destination, and the location of a beautiful Greek Theater. At a church on the main street, the lovely bride in a traditional white gown was greeted by a crowd that undoubtedly included more tourists and gawkers, than friends and acquaintances.

Most Americans who have heard of Messina, remember it from the movie “Patton.” The actual plan was to capture Messina in time to prevent the enemy’s armies from withdrawing across the strait, but the Allies arrived too late for that. So like armies of the past, the Humberds crossed the Straits of Messina and continued their journey through Italy.