Travels and Thoughts
Giardini Naxos, Catania, Mt. Etna - Saturday 10/12/2019
After driving to Giardini Naxos and settling in to our wonderful hotel, we had a choice. We could either join a guide to visit the cathedral and view other iconic sights of the histoic Baroque city (UNESCO), then witness the daily spectacle of bartering for fresh fish and produce at the local market or explore the Museo dello Sbarco (Allied Landing Museum), an emotionally moving museum dedicated to the
Allied troops who landede on the southern coast in 1943. Because I had experienced fish markets in Morocco, I chose the Allied landing museum which was spectacular.
The entire interactive museum was devoted to "Operation Husky" which lasted 38 days from July 10, 1943 until Sep 8, 1943. After this, Sicily was "out of the war" as the invasion continued north leaving Sicily alone.
The museum has a replica of the town before the invasion and then the same street and stores after the invasion. They have a bomb shelter which, when you go into the dark room, shakes as the bombs sound and babies cry. Then, there are rooms devoted to the British soldier, the American soldier, the Italian soldier, and the German soldier. Additionally, there are exhibits with artifacts including cement bombs, weapons, a communications bunker, a first-aide shelter, a bunker, and full size models of Churchill and other important persons of the time.
The above three photos are of the town before the invasion (there were other representations, but I am just giving a suggestion of the layout). You could look inside the various shops and homes to see what they were like.
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Bree is a spirited and standout font that takes its inspiration from handwriting. It's sure to grab your reader's attention, especially in short paragraphs.
Left: view inside one of the shops above. Above: partially destroyed building after bombing.
Right: destruction on building showing a bomb.
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Left: This poster caught my attention because of the phrase "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (which is a line from the Roman lyrical poet Horace's Odes. The line is usually translated as: "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country."). When I taught British Lit, I taught a poem with that name written by Wilfred Owen - a biting criticism of WWI and the meaningless deaths of so many of Britian's young.
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Right: I wish I could remember the details of the story on this poster, but as I remember it, there were two soldiers - an Italian and an American. The American was part of the invading force. The irony of all of it was that they were actually brothers and didn't know it. The one brother stayed in Italy when he was young while the other immigrated to the US also as a young child. What an irony!
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These photos are from a few of the exhibits. The picture of the wall is the original wall from before the war. Today it forms a part of the museum.
Visiting this museum gave me a picture of the war I was not at all familiar with. It was really an inspiring morning to once again recognize the sacrifices made by all during the Second World War!
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After we finished our bus ride to Mt. Etna, many of us used this opportunity to climb one of the Mt. Etna craters (not one that was actively spewing anything). I walked along the crater rim - what an awesome experience!
The ash from previous eruptions covers many miles and is very deep. From this ash, artisans make lava jewelry. The lava makes beautiful black beads for bracelets and necklaces.
After a great lunch, we boarded the bus for a trip up Mt. Etna, a volcano that is daily active.
Left: On the way, we could look out to see the ruins of a home that was destroyed and nearly covered in volcanic ash.
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Above: a distant view of Mt. Etna taken from our bus. One can see the smoke arising from the top of the volcano.
Left: A shot of the volcano spewing smoke and ash taken from the Greek theater in Taormino - more on the Greek theater when I post our visit to Taormino later.
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On our way back to Giardini Naxos from Mt. Etna, we stopped at a villa which was really a place where the family made expensive jewelry for sale. We had a tour through the villa and were then treated to a wonderful free spread of treats. The plate of treats we took to the veranda. There were a few among our group who did make purchases, so I guess the arrangement was profitable for the family.
Top left: entrance to villa. Top right: grand staircase. Center: lovely garden. Below left: the food that was free and prepared especially for our group. Bottom right: the veranda, a wonderful place to enjoy all the treats.
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After our brief visit to the villa, we returned to our hotel, Hotel Hellenia, for the night. Throught my vacation, every hotel we had was 5-star.
Top left: the outdoor pool where we could sip our cocktails purchased at the hotel bar. Bottom left: our hotel had a wonderful view of Mt. Etna which was spewing smoke the next morning - quite a sight!
Bottom right: this was my balcony. All the hotel accommodations I had included balconies.
