5/29/2015 – Messina

Before we went to bed last night we took some pictures of the town from the house at night.

View from the house at night. When we got up this morning we went into town to have some Granita and Brioche. Granita is like italian ice, but here many people have it for breakfast or in early afternoon. We had ours with a warm Brioche at a little cafe called Eden where we sat out in the garden. It was very nice. Before we left we had to get down this driveway. It’s very steep and narrow and it is shared by a number of families who have houses on the hill.

The driveway to the house

Conrad and Lala having Granita

Some flowers along the driveway

We came back to the house and tried to climb up the hill to look down from the top of the hill where they live but it was closed off before the top so we returned to the car and headed to a hill nearby where we had spectacular views.

View from the top of the hill

Wildflowers on the top of the hill

We went to a different area near a cemetery at the top of the hill. First we visited the graves of Conrad’s Aunt Miti and Uncle Mario.

After coming back from the cemetery Conrad and I took a walk on the beach and took some pictures.

Conrad on the beach below the house where we are staying.

In the center of the picture you can see our Family’s home which is above the beach.

Beach along the straights of Messina

Conrad doing some rock climbing

Finally we went back to the house because Conrad’s cousin Barbara came home to visit as well, she is working in Milan but came for a short holiday. It was very nice to see her and that she took some time away from her very busy job to visit with us.

We took a few more pictures from the balcony.

Ships in the straights of Messina

After relaxing at the house for a while, and my favorite part of the culture – a nap – we went into Torre Faro and had some Gelato and took some pictures. Rino is leaving for Istanbul in the morning and we join our cruise ship in the morning so it was nice to spend some time together.

Torre Faro overlooking the harbor – Rino, Lala and Conrad

After Gelato we went out again a little later for pizza cooked by brick oven in a nice little restaurant by the sea. The appetizer was a sort of pizza dough with spices which was very good, sort of like bread before a meal. Also we had a bowl of very good Fried potatoes as well as mini Arancini and little hot dog like slices. It was very delicious. The pizza was wonderful as well. Here’s a picture of mine –

On the way home from the Pizza restaurant we stopped for a kind of Italian Ice Cream called Tartufo which is a little ice cream ball with some fruits in the center, and covered in chocolate. We ate them back at the house and took a final picture of the town from the deck at night. What a wonderful visit with family and in such a beautiful location. Tomorrow is the next chapter of our journey on the cruise ship.

Mortelle at night

#MediteraneanCruise2015