Taormina and the Ferry from Messina

Teatro Greco 3rd century BC Taormina

Prior to us planning this trip Sandra’s friend Deen had sent her a Calgary Herald Travel section article on Taormina and asked her if we had been there. So, when we found that Taormina was close to Mt. Etna, had a famous Greek Theatre (Teatro Greco) dating from the 3^rd century BC it was pretty easy to see how the dots got connected. Mt Etna being a bucket list item for me and Taormina with it’s Castelmola overlooking the theatre.

Taormina Panorama
Click on any photo for an enlarged view

Later, after finding a place to stay, wandering the core of Taormina and finding a recommended restaurant , the Belle Blu ( it’s the view that’s better than the food),

Belle Blu View

 we have the energy to do the climb above Toarmina to Castelmola for the great view over the teatro and the bay. 

At the top next to the castle is a small church carved out of the rock and called the” Lady La Rocca”.

It was a welcome shady spot to seek refuge in from the day’s heat.

While sitting there and viewing over Taormina we re-read our notes and marvel at the fact this Greek amphitheatre was built 23 centuries ago, and is quite intact today. Imagining society in what must have been a burgeoning community of the day to construct a theatre capable of holding 7000 people, there must have been a determined Will to provide entertainment for the community, perched like so many of these theatres we have seen, over an equally stunning vista,Bergama Turkey 2011 comes to mind. While the open theatre in our town of Ladysmith doesn’t have the World Heritage Site credentials of this place, we have enjoyed some great Sunday evenings there in summer being entertained by great local talent, while watching the early evening sun alter the lighting of the outer islands and sailboats anchored there.

As it was Sunday there is yet another old motorcycle collection on display. Most were old Moto Guzzi's like we saw last year but one that caught my eye that I hadn't seen before was a Rudge.

Rudge Twin

Our final act in Sicily is to head to Messina and catch a 30 min ferry over to the Italian mainland to continue our journey. The town of Messina is chaotic and poorly signed for people who aren’t familiar with where the terminal is. Once there we are quick to buy a ticket drive on and immediately the ramps are raised and we are off. We haven’t really looked around so we climb the steps on the ferry to an upper deck area and are met by two Ukrainian motorcyclists from Kiev who just watched us load on. They immediately come up to us, and begin asking if we really are from Canada. They then want to take pictures of us and them with our motorcycle licence plate, and then we did the same with them.

Ukraine Riders and Us, taken by the local Police

Like other European travellers we have talked to this trip, they share their thoughts on what is happening in the Ukraine. All we can say here without jeopardizing their positions in the Ukraine, is, this is a very sad state of affairs and the NA media we have been exposed to doesn’t have the full story.

While they are taken by our travels including actually having been in the Ukraine in 2011 we both re-calibrate our focus to note that a 70’s something Hungarian curmudgeon is returning from Sicily on a eastern European built 125 cc scooter. Our effort to snap a photo was interrupted by his need to get off the ferry quick.

From Hungary with Love

Mt. Etna

Mt. Etna June 2014

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.^[4] In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.^{[5]  Source Wikipedia}

Mt Etna and Us

Today we headed for Mt Etna, helmet cam recording our drive up, which recorded more than one old Sicilian trying to run us off the road. You have to laugh really! Cars here are so damaged that no wonder they don’t care, who would notice the difference .

Our first stop was to fill with fuel, and we enjoyed talking with a very well educated gas attendant who was fluent in English as well as Italian, and knew of the various means we could have arrived in Acireale. He said he knew that Italy have everything going for it, except work. It was obvious from that, that such a well-educated person was pumping gas.

1986 Sylvestri Crater

Next, at the 2000 mtr. Crater centre we waved to, then returned to talk with a  married couple from the Tyrol area of Austria riding a  BMW GS1200 2012 edition. They had driven here from Austria but had had some damage done due to a drop in the rain and replaced a side case and had damage to the right cylinder head. He runs a rental shop for BMW’s in Austria and is associated with a bike hotel there and provided us with their details. Very nice people. It still amazes us that we get such get recognition and treatment from people when they see we are from Canada. We all better appreciate where we come from.

Etna at the moment isn’t very active, but we were able to walk to the Sylvestri crater which erupted in 1986, and the Cappernini crater that erupted in 2001,

2001 Cappernini Crater

neither of which is close to the mountain top. As we walked around you could feel extra heat being transferred to your feet and touching the rock it was warm to the touch. Erie! Higher up there was some small signs of venting going on away from the summit. The views from that elevation were excellent as you can see in any direction.  

Sandra descends from upper crater

Sicily

Old Town Palermo,
Click on any picture to zoom in

Our time here in Sicily has been ‘an experience’. When we left Geneva we needed to be in Genoa Italy for late Saturday so that we would be on the last ferry to Palermo. Well that was pretty easy to do, and we had both forgotten how beautiful and technical the autostrada is as you head south from Alessandria. It was pure enjoyment, until we reached the ferry port in Genoa, which we have had experience with as well, when we got off the Tangiers Morocco ferry and snaked out of the port and headed to Levanto. This time we descended into the chaos where we met a very friendly Dutch couple who were riding 2 Honda’s a VFR800 and a CB1000 in very close to matching paint jobs.

Dutch Couple and Sandra

They had taken refuge in a no man’s land under the huge mall area and he said matter of factly, “now I have something to do, I will show you where the ticket office is.” A few minutes later and we had our cabin booked for the 11pm ferry to Palermo on GNV. Yes folks the same people who brought us from Morocco and they haven’t improved much since 2011.

On arrival in Palermo we took the Ibis hotel there, on a reservation and they recommended the MUDU pizzeria, an upscale place which was extremely busy on a Sunday evening. We ate at about 9:30 pm. On what was extraordinary mushroom, prosciutto and smoked buffalo cheese pizza. The next day we rode up to a place called Monreale,

Amazing Mosaics,  Monreale

where there the Duomo has gold mosaics on every surface of the interior. While my pictures don’t do it justice, this is an amazing cathedral to see. We then returned to Palermo and wandered the streets but found that Palermo is a very old and dilapidated place and extremely poor.

The next day we headed to Cefalu, a mecca for sunseekers and for its historic centre. It is a beautiful old town situated on the Med coast about 80 kms east of Palermo, and a world away in tourist interest. Our B&B for this day was up in the mountains a few kms. East of Cefalu called Case Saporana and was an old farmhouse with 4 rooms in it and Nino who ran the place by himself. We seemed to be his first guests for this year, and he treated us very well with a splendid breakfast the next morning of locally produced eggs, lemonade (which he gave us more of to take to drink), croissants, cheeses, and cappuccino.

But our tour took us back into Cefalu where we saw the old town centre,

Hot and Sunny Cefalu

bought locally produced red wine for the evening, and had a late lunch/ early supper at Molo 19 a trendy café right on the beach. I had spotted someone eating mussels there and once my radar locked on we had an appetizer of them and Sandra had pesto and shrimp pasta while I had the pasta Aglio, just amazing food. As we walked the concourse past the beach we saw another local favorite, Gelatto briochette. While we didn't try them a French tourist posed for me so that I could get a good picture, and she said they tasted so good.

Gelatto in a Bun

That evening we watched the sunset from our balcony high above the village, a glass of wine in hand, the end to a perfect day.

Agrigento

From Cefalu we backtracked a bit to A19, an autostrada that heads off to Catania, the main airport city on Sicily and close to the base of Mt. Etna. We took this elevated highway for 150 kms. Yes it was elevated about 25-50’ above the ground the whole way, supported on piers, over some of the most beautiful  mountain vista terrain, eventually ending as we turned due south toward Agrigento, and the Valley of the Temples.One thing the Italians can do is engineer great roads.

Concordia Temple - Most intact Greek temple in the World

On arrival there we changed and headed out to the Valley of the Temples. You see, Sicily was first populated by the Greeks, and today, the best and most intact pagan temples to Zeuss and others are on display in Italy,

Central Walls still in place

and the archaeological museum is arguably the best outside the British Museum  in London and the Louvre in Paris, and bonus hardly any tourists. We found a great  hotel to stay in there for very cheap and if you stayed for supper they offered a free night bus tour of the Temples to see them lit up. This place, Hotel Costazzurra, was great value, with a very good supper, and the most friendly staff. We really enjoyed our time there.

Night Shot

Necropolis Tombs

Warrior insitu, note Agrigento in backgrd.

Warrior in Museum 7.6M tall

Scale model of temple that warriors were placed in It was Huge!

Ragusa and Modica

From Agrigento we headed east along the south coast of Sicily which looks out toward Tunisia, Africa. It was hot, and sunny and we took a winding set of roads from Gela to Caltagirone (known for their ceramics)  and then onto Ragusa and finally Modica where we found a great B&B that Sandra had selected. Modica is known for its 100 churches and we walked through several of them, some restored, some in disrepair but with a village/city that is attached to every one of them. Over the gorge associated to this town is the highest bridge in Europe reportedly at 300 mt.

Main Cathedral

Inside Restored

Ceiling Frescos

Bridge Span in Distance

Siracusa

As we headed out today to our base at the foot of Mt Etna, the only active volcano currently in Italy, actually mainstream Europe we headed to the old port town of Siracusa

Siracusa

and the old town centre which hosts a very large central market every day at this time of year. Vendors hawk their wares there and the local produce  and seafood is amazing. One of our purchases is antipasto and another local cherries, both excellent. Tomorrow we head up Mt Etna, unfortunately she is quiet at the moment.

Antipasto Stall

Anyone for Eel?

Geneva - One Amazing Centre for Promise

We are now in Geneva (May 28), after 2 day ago riding autobahns in Germany (boringly fast) and a day ago the last 4 ½ hrs on some of the most scenic rural highways in east central France, particularly highway 437 from outside Belfort to Pontarlier. While the day was cool, never much above 14 C, and definitely down to 8 C as we crossed the Jura Mountains (snow near the top and a bit of rain), we just loved the drive. The bike is performing flawlessly, from fuel economy, to ride, especially handling with hands free capability, and our new packing techniques we have lowered the centre of gravity some more.

United Nations Geneva

Geneva                - One Amazing Centre for Promise

This is Sandra’s place, I’d say her city. And her research that has yielded such an amazing experience over the past two days. Knowing that we wanted to get the Geneva Pass which allowed entry to a number of attractions, plus provide transportation if you needed it (we didn’t) it was a great value. Of course we arrived on Ascension Thursday a holiday across Christendom in Europe which meant that the tourist bureau opened later and some attractions are closed, like the watch museum Sandra wanted to see. But the List below is what we did see.

• The Red Cross/Crescent Museum
• Palace of Nations ( United Nations)
• Reformation Wall – Train tour of Geneva
• Boat Tour of Geneva
• C.E.R.N.  “Lord of The Rings”   Caution!! This can blow your Mind

Front Entrance

Starting at the Red Cross/Crescent Museum, a person should dedicate about 1 ½ hrs.t o this site to see it’s permanent exhibit. Positioned using a series of Interactive ‘Witnesses’ the Museum shares the experiences of these witnesses in a variety of settings. Your entrance grants you an English guided tour via headphones and electronic  RFID trigger points that initiate a witness to share their story with you if you position yourself in front of them, or place your hand on theirs. This methodology engages you in committing to listening to their story and making a connection with them. Pure genius in dealing with an audience. 

Many Posters

It details how the Red Cross started in the late 1800’s until today, openly addresses their failures during WWII, and really presents a war criminal case against Pres. Bush of the US and Rumsfeld for their crimes against humanity  with Abu Grebe and Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Complete avoidance of humanitarian treaties the United States was a signatory to.

1000's of Unidentified Children

Great Tour and nice Guide

From there we walked across the avenue to the Palis du Nations, or United Nations setting. Our Chinese born guide provided a great tour with lots of personality mixed with some serious messages. We visited the Human Rights and Alliance Room, which deals with country human rights reviews in open audience,

Human Rights Hall

Disarmament Hall

and the Disarmament Room which addresses ongoing talks which currently include both the Iran nuclear talks, and the Syria chemical conflict. Of course our piece of memorabilia from 1991 when we brought Shannon and Blair here is the 

Entrance follows you

Chinese pagoda, whose entrance follows you down the corridor. Sandra didn’t believe we had been here before until she saw that. This is an excellent tour and building that makes you humbled to the fact that there are greater things on earth than the day to day problems we have, but that face humankind on earth, and, how we can become more engaged in those struggles. Architecture here is effectively used to impart this message. Lastly there are several monuments on the grounds that are worth noting, from Gandhi’s life statue to the Broken Chair’s symbol against Land Mines. Powerful stuff we need to think more about.

Library Central Hall

Gandhi My Life is my message

Land Mines

We then turned our attention to lighter matters with a boat tour of Lake Geneva. It is worth noting to sit on the starboard side of the boat for the tour since the tour is done in a counter-clockwise rotation. This one hr. on the water yielded us with a mild sunburn as the day had turned quite warm.

Geneva Fountain

From there we headed for the Reformation Wall. Geneva is seen as the home of  the start of protestant religion and a Wall is there to commemorate some of the early reformers of Christian belief, Calvin, Knox, Luther and others.

Reformation Wall

It was here we caught another Geneva Pass freebie, and that is the train tour of the Old Town, which we completed after many hours on our feet. The day was completed by returning to our hotel where we were met by Heiko who had come down to take in the CERN tour Friday with us. We had a very nice visit and dinner out at Charly’s Pub that evening.

The LHC Lord of the Rings

CERN – Lord of the Rings

Our final day in Geneva was to attend our pre-arranged by application, appointment to visit the CERN facility.

CERN and Sandra

Sandra wanted to go here and I felt bad about not getting here last year until I learned they didn’t offer civilian tours until late October 2013. Heiko drove the 598 kms yesterday to join us as well.

This facility will blow your mind. I told Sandra I was sad, because I learned that I really knew “nothing  “ after visiting the microcosm lab in advance of the formal tour. I never had heard the term neutrinos, or quarks.  Did you know neutrinos are capable of passing through the earth from one side to the other without impediment by matter?  Now, I have graduated to knowing what I don’t know and I hope that one of my grandchildren will work at closing that gap for me more in future by visiting here, getting inspired and advancing their education in nuclear research, or in humanitarian causes vis a via, the Red Cross or UN. You might think I have lofty ideals for my grandkids, but then you don’t know them like I do. They are capable, and well positioned and have brilliant parents. And then there is my nephew Brad Lafortune who is extremely motivated in this area as well.

The Lord of the Rings term is coined based on the LHC, or Large Hadron collider, a particle accelerator  27 kms in length, well read the images here for better detail. It is part of three rings which include 2 former experiment rings. Our tour ended in the Atlas Control Centre and an amazing 3D film that allows you to experience the areas without going down below, which are currently closed for maintenance.

Just imagine protons being accelerated to collide at a rate of 11000 revolutions a 27 km circuit per ONE SECOND below Geneva, that is meant to recreate the environment one millionth of a millionth of a second after the Big Bang theory, and where at that moment ‘Matter’ and Anti-Matter’ co-existed, and “mass” developed as the result in the reduction in matter slowed after the Big Bang.

On a lighter note, the tool you are using to read this blog originated here, yep that’s right the WWW, which was made public in 1993.  CERN developed the World Wide Web after responding to the need to share its data amongst its 70 some research facilities world-wide. I’m pleased to have one of the first Smith WWW email addresses issued in 1993 in Calgary, before that I used the web through a Police Bulletin Board I belonged to. Lastly, CERN is 60 years old this year having been started in 1954 to offset the USA’s nuclear development and brain drain.

This is a must see bucket list place to visit. And oh, just to add icing to the cake, we ride into the French Alps and take the Mount Blanc tunnel a 12 km. engineering feat, through the Alps, into Italy where we have now finished our favorite meal of pasta and red wine. Life doesn't get much more interesting or educational!

In Memory of Nell Godwin

Just a short note in recognition and condolence to the family of Nell Godwin who recently passed away at the age of 102. She was a neighbor of mine when I was a child, a motorcyclist, a skier, and a musician. Her bubbly personality, and her femininity and her musical talent hid the fact that she was the second female motorcyclist licensed in the Province of Alberta riding an Indian motorcycle while her husband Don rode a Harley. When her husband Don became ill and confined to a hospital in the  mid '60's, she at around 50 yrs of age bought a Yamaha twin jet 100, which I maintained on her behalf, to travel back and forth to visit him. 
She truly was a believer in Two Wheels moving the Soul.
Her complete obituary can be viewed at http://www.yatesfuneral.ca/obits/obituary.php?act=addtrib&id=463410