4/11/2023 0 Comments Messina cruise port map![]() ![]() The northeastern part of the island of Rhodes, where the cruise port is located, is an especially great place for windsurfing and kiteboarding. The Cruise Port in Rhodes is great to work on your tan and enjoy the wealth of water sports available at the pristine, sun-drenched beaches. Flying time is 3 hours 5 minutes.Rhodes receives about 300 days of sunshine a year, so it is no wonder that the Greek city chose Helios as their divine patron. British Airways, easyJet and Norwegian Air offer non-stop flights from Gatwick. The nearest airport to Messina is Catania, 60 miles (96km) to the south. You could also try a nine-hour tour combined wine and Etna tour from Messina from €99 (£88). Olive oils and other foodstuffs are good buys in Messina, as is wine, if you can transport it, especially the dessert wines of Lipari, and reds from the Etna region from producers such as Planeta. Street food is a feature of Messina – look for pidone (puduni in dialect), deep-fried and filled crescent shaped parcels, along with eastern Sicilian classics such as caponata, pasta alla Norma (with salted ricotta, sun-ripened tomatoes and aubergine), pasta with tonno, sarde or alici (tuna, sardines or fresh anchovies), cassata and granite (crushed ice with fruit syrups) Don’t leave without…Ĭeramics are made in towns across Sicily, and you’ll find a good selection in craft stores in Taormina, which is also known for its range of chic, expensive shops selling designer clothes, lingerie, fabrics and jewellery. Eat and drinkįood is excellent in Sicily, thanks to the island’s fertile soils and teeming seas, as well as a position and long history that means its cuisine combines Spanish, Greek, North African and Middle Eastern influences. Less ambitious excursions may offer free time at the volcano’s main visitor focus, the Rifugio Sapienza (4920ft/1500m), where you can travel higher, using first the cable car and then 4WD coach with mandatory guide (€64/£57 inclusive, unless included in excursion). Go-Etna has five- to seven-hour Jeep tours from €105 per person. Mount Etna is perhaps Sicily's biggest drawĬosts can be high for the 4WD tours closer to the summit (areas are often inaccessible owing to eruptions). Consider how high you wish to go – generally, the higher the better from the point of view of otherworldly scenery – and whether you have the robust footwear and clothes for what can be cold, rough upper slopes (some operators provide clothing). To see Mount Etna you will need to take an excursion. Castelmola, a pretty village three miles (5km) away, is heavily touted, but is unpleasantly crowded in season. Wander along the main street (Corso Umberto I) and visit Palazzo Corvaia’s rural museum and then stroll to the Teatro Greco and the Duca di Cesarò gardens. Many people visit the town with high expectations, which are perhaps not always entirely met, but this remains a beautifully situated place, with great views and plenty to see. You can easily make an independent day trip by train to Taormina and explore under your own steam, with the timing provisos outlined above. Four-hour excursions are available to the villages of Savoca and Forza d’Agro, two of the locations used by Francis Ford Coppola while shooting in Sicily for The Godfather and The Godfather III movies. Mt Etna is the highest volcano in Europe and still activeĪround town, aim to explore Piazza del Duomo (the cathedral square), the duomo (the cathedral itself) and the churches of Montalto, San Francesco and SS Annunziata dei Catalani.Ī four-hour excursion would just about get you to Taormina and give you an hour or so to explore, but note that in practice the “half-day” excursions offered locally and by cruise companies to the town tend to last six hours. Regular Interbus bus services take 10 minutes to shuttle from the station (Stazione FS) to Via Luigi Pirandello, Taormina’s bus terminal (€1.90 one way). ![]() Trains run roughly hourly to Taormini-Giardini station for Taormina journey time 38min–1hr 8min €4.30 one way). Messina Centrale railway station is just over half a mile (1km) south of the cruise terminal. Local companies and cruise lines offer excursions or transfer-only trips to Taormina (journey time one hour) and tours to Etna, which is not accessible independently unless you rent a car. You’ll need a taxi one or both ways to the town’s other key sight, the regional museum (see below), which is 1.5 miles (2.4km) to the north on Viale della Libertà, a continuation of Via Vittorio Emanuele II. From the cruise terminal cross Via Garibaldi to enter the town’s grid of streets to the west, centred on the rebuilt cathedral in Piazza del Duomo. It’s easy to walk to and around most of central Messina. Taormina is a hilltop town near Mount Etna ![]()
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