Skip to main content

Messina Day 2






Day 2 in Messina was all about Messina!  We started with breakfast in the hotel.  We then walked up to the main Piazza and started with the Cathedral of Messina

It is gorgeous and they have this beautiful vignette.  



I also lit candles at each of the Saints stations.  There are different saints in Sicilia then in other parts of Italy.  Everywhere of course has the Blessed Mother in all forms- but the other saints seem to change.  Most likely the influence of the Normans and other Arabic cultures as well that are so prevalent in Messina.  






There was also the vestments of St. Pop John Paul 2 from when he visited the Cathedral in Messina.  
Ronnie and I then decided to check out the Crypt







After the crypt w got something to drink and sat in the square waiting for the show of the Astronomical Clock in the center of the square.  At noon every day, the Lion Roars, the rooster crows and Ave Maria plays and the rest of the clock also moves to play out the story linked to the city's political and religious traditions.  It last about 12 minutes.  


We then just walked and walked- maybe too much for Ronnie's dad.  Saw some sites in Messina.  

We took a walk down by the water and saw Neptune as well as just the sites in the water.  



We then found a place for lunch.  All the school children were there drinking espresso, coke, eating gelato and vaping.  These kids all smoke and vape- I guess we did too in high school we just tried to hide it more.  

Ronnie and I decided on a tiki bar for dinner.  I had an Amarena Spritz this time.  Very tasty!


There was an adorable dog across the way



For dinner I had pasta with pistachio pesto and bacon.  The bacon was so crispy and salty.  it was amazing.  Ronnie had cacio e pepe.  We split the traditional Messina balls.  They really are what our version of braciole is based off of.  Just no sauce- there are grilled and have a nice crunch on the outside from that.  


We had to take a picture of the beef.  Looks so good!


We ended up in their shopping district.  Lots of cool stores and people singing on the streets.  It is just so nice to walk and pass through areas.  On a Monday night everything was full and busy!


We continued our aimless walking and found this cool wine/cocktail bar.  I had prosecco, Ronnie a Vodka tonic (thy do not do vodka soda here)

They brought us snacks and this plate with a caprese skewer, risotto ball, and a tart with whipped cheese and an anchovy on top.  We did not eat the anchovy.  


I finished the night with a pastry filled with pistachio cream!  I love pistachios!  All in all a good day.  Tomorrow we are off on a tour.  I also need more water!  But we will get there.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Palermo day 2 & Corleone

  We started our day with breakfast at the B & B before heading off for the day.  meat, cheese, filled cornetto & espresso. We then met our driver from Welcome Pickups.  We drove to Corleone which was Ronnie's Great Grandparents hometown.  This is a picture on the drive down- it is about an hour drive.   Some random pictures of the town and Ronnie and his dad, Ron, in one of the Piazzas.   We then stopped in one of the churches to light candles and say prayers.  It was beautiful inside.   We tried walking  around a bit, the streets were narrow, and all seemed downhill so we did not get too far.  We were also getting hungry.  Ronnie's dad wanted pizza so we stopped for that.   There was a St. Anthony so I felt good with this place!  The girl here did not speak English so it was not good for my husband or his dad.  I did the ordering.  Normally in Italy it is one pizza per person especia...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bologna Day3- day trip to Modena

 We started off the day sort of late.  Decided to do a day trip to Modena, round trip was under 17 euros total for us both.  We walked to the train station which is literally like 5 minutes from our hotel grabbed a cappuccino water and apricot filled croissant and off we went.  We arrive in Modena less than a half hour later.   look at the pretty streets of Modena Another day another piazza! But we were in Modena and I was in search of balsamic...a tasting a something.  The first store I went in to had very, very high end balsamic you could do a tasting for a price and the cheapest bottle started at 60 Euro.  This was not our balsamic market.  This was a little above where we wanted to buy and we have tasted the really expensive stuff before.  But then we found a reasonable store.  Giuseppe Giusti offers free tastings of their balsamic at all different levels and their vermouth.  It was all fantastic.  We decided on some i...
Post a Comment
Read more

GIrls Trip- Alaska

I know know, this blog is all about the fun stuff I do with my husband, but this one blog post is going to be about an adventure I had with the one person I have known the longest in my life- my sister! The trip started with Angela texting one day asking if I wanted to see the Aurora Borealis....I thought sure why not.  And then we booked a trip and here we are. As we were planning I remembered an old friend from my semester at American lives in Fairbanks so I reached out to him for suggestions.  He offered some great ideas on places to go, things to do, and places to eat. Sadly we will not be able to see him and his wife, because they leave for vacation right after we got in town.   So the adventure for me started with a 7:50 text that my flight changed and a rerouting.  I left Cleveland at 1:40 pm and met up with my sister in Seattle at around 7 pacific time for a quick dinner before we parted ways for our flights to Fairbanks (different airlines).  ...
Post a Comment
Read more