After 4 eventful days in Venice, we boarded a train for Civatavecchia, the seaport for Rome, where we would board our cruise ship. The cruise was touted as a “Greek Isles” cruise. But before we could get to the actual Greek Isles (there were 3 on our itinerary), we had a couple of prior stops; Sicily, and the independent nation of Malta.
As I have noted here in the past, one of the downsides of cruising is that you usually only get one short day in every port. Knowing very little about either of these destinations, we booked a private tour in Sicily, and nothing in Malta. With a lot of ground to cover and a few hours, we had to choose some destinations.
In addition to a little bit of time in Messina, we went to Taormina, the quaint and mountainous little town where some of the scenes in Francis Ford Coppola’s original “The Godfather,” were shot. We happened upon this adorable little Dachshund being photographed. At first, I thought it was somebody just photographing their pet, but as I looked more carefully, later, it was apparent that this was probably an advertising shot of some type (note the light being held to one side).
At the top of the village is a beautiful church, with an incredible view. As we walked back down, I could see myself sitting and having coffee or lunch at one of the outdoor destinations and seeing the grand view.
We traveled to Mt. Vesuvius, where we saw the volcano from a distance.
We also stopped for some honey and wine tasting, before finishing our day back in Messina.