In the footsteps of Al Pacino and the godfather

 

Today was a shorter day because we didn’t dock in Messina Sicily until midday. We were ready for a quick getaway and on our way for our tour to explore Sicily. It is a public holiday for the Feast of the Assumption today in Sicily, so everything in downtown Messina was closed.

After passing a cement factory ‘where Sicilian boots are made’, our first stop was in the village of Savoca, the setting for the Godfather movie. We walked the path to the Church of St Lucia, where the famous wedding scenes were shot and then followed Al Pacino to the famous Bar Vitelli for a lemon granita and biscotti. The café is like a shrine to the movie, fitted out with lots of the props of the movie and photos of the stars while they were in Savoca.

Unfortunately for me, my memories of Savoca will be different – everyone had finished their granitas and headed outside to get back into the van. I took a quick detour to the toilet, which had two heavy old doors at the entrance. The internal door was locked by a large old metal key which fitted into a wooden hole drilled into the door.

As I went to unlock the door to leave, the key broke in the lock and I was stuck!!! I tried to juggle the piece that I had, but it wouldn’t budge- no luck!!! After a few minutes I started to shout and knock on the door, but the doors were so thick that no-one could hear me – no luck!!! There was an open window to the exterior so I stood up on the seat and shouted in the direction of the window – no luck!!!

 I kept knocking and shouting for about ten minutes and telling myself that eventually someone from our group would wonder why I was taking so long and come looking for me – but they were outside, across the road taking in the view!!!

Eventually I heard someone making a noise on the other side of the door so I shouted ‘hello’ and a lady replied in Italian ‘Si, si, si, signora’ while she tried another key from the outside – and finally I was freed!!! As I walked outside, I met Jo and Judy coming back into the restaurant to look for me. Just another adventure for this trip!!!

Once the group was reunited, we headed to the village of Taormina, an ancient site dating from early Greek inhabitation, Roman occupation, so there are lots of the remains of medieval construction from the 15^th century. Unfortunately it has become very touristy so there are lots of the usual stalls, souvenir shops, and high end designer shops.

The highlight is the Greek amphitheatre dating from the 3^rd century BC – it is high on the hill so there are amazing views back along the coastline and over to Mt Etna, the volcano which has erupted over 130 times. It is still used today and was set up for a classical production tonight.

We tasted the local delights – Arancini and Cannoli – I thought the Arancini(a type of crumbed and fried rice ball) was quite dry but the cannoli filled with custard was creamy and delicious – another gastronomic triumph!!!

Captain, pull in those lines and let us head to Santorini….