2004 Europe

Rod & Diana with Punic Altar in Salunto



May 14 – Palermo, Sicily is a big place with lots of traffic, quite different from the last two ports. The weather is sunny, warm and breezy. Once again we are headed out of town for smaller cities. One is still a city, Bagheria and the other is the site of an ancient Roman city, Solunto.



Our first stop was at Solunto. It’s at the top of Mt. Catalfano and of course vehicles cannot go up the hill so once again we hike up a mountain to see an old city. The Greeks built the first real city here. While the Romans occupied it, it was greatly expanded and most of the structures seen there today are Roman. The hike was the steepest and the longest on the trip so far and I was puffing pretty hard by the time we got to the city. It was made more difficult by the uneven stone road we walked up. I don’t think it has been maintained since the Phoenicians were here in 700BC. It became a Punic stronghold in the 4th century BC until they were conquered by the Syracusans who were later ejected by the Romans in the 3rd century BC. By the 3rd century AD the place was abandoned and no one is sure why. They had water cisterns (right) built at the top of the hill and these may have become inadequate as the city grew. Diana and I are standing by a Punic altar (above). Almost no reconstruction has been done here, just excavation and a little piling up of stones. You can still see some of the frescos on the walls of the homes and a few of the mosaic floors in the villas. Two of them are amazingly intact. The only large reconstruction I saw was three pillars in one corner of the Gymnasium had been righted and the capstones put across the top. Everything else was pretty much just there. You can still sit on the theater seats that are carved into the rock of the hillside. It was small by Roman standards, seating only 1,200. Nearby the floor of the Bouleuterion, where the local senate met, can be seen with some of its decorations and columns. At the edge of the city towards the sea the views over the surrounding area were great. I’ll include a pic of one. It was very hazy and I couldn't decide if it was water vapor or smog.



After the hike back down the hill we boarded the bus to drive to the nearby city of Bagheria. As we left the museum, I said, ‘Multo bella!’ to the security guard and he broke into a huge grin and said, ‘Grazi’. I know that I haven’t spelled either of these Italian phrases correctly but what can I say. I can barely spell in English.



In Bagheria we are visiting the Villa Gavina di Palagonia (right) also known as the Villa dei Mostri (Monsters Villa). It was built in the early 1700s. It has classical features and is built on an elliptical plan. The day we visited a tour group riding antique motorcycles was there. The bikes were great! They were mostly European bikes (BMW, Moto Guzzi, NSA, Nimbus) but there was one Harley-Davidson in the bunch. The most outstanding feature of the villa was the sculptures decorating the garden walls (below). There were several people there painting them in water colors. Some of the sculptures looked pretty normal, others were obviously fantasies or monsters. They are also unique in that in they face inward toward the villa rather than outward as was the custom of the period. The villa has not been restored on the inside. Only the wall decorations remain of what was once a beautiful home. The ballroom had mirrors lining the ceiling and parts of the walls. They were all slightly offset one way of another so the images would flow in erratic patterns as the dancers moved. The current owner’s grandson was there with some contractors who will attempt to restore it. He said the relative who built the villa was slightly nuts. I hope they do the restoration; it’s a great villa.



After that it was back to Palermo to see the Cathedral (below). The Cathedral was begun in 1184 by the Norman king William II and was added to in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The façade is a mixture of Gothic, Arabic, Catalan-Gothic and Norman styles. The south porch is in the Catalan-Gothic style and dates from the late 1400s. It is the best remaining example of this type of architecture. After that we drove through the city looking at the various markets and the Opera House, third largest in Europe and then back to the ship.



The entertainer tonight was a guitar player, Chris Nicholson. He played Spanish, Classical, Rock and Blues styles and was good at them all. Very enjoyable.



May 15 - Today is a much-needed ‘at sea’ day. Diana is having some problems with her allergies or has a cold and is feeling tired. She slept in late this morning and is now having a nap so I’m up in the Computer Center working on my pics and this narrative.



This afternoon we passed through the Bonifiacio Strait between Sardinia and Corsica. Of course we were on Spanish Corsica Thursday before last. We were to come through this strait on our way to Livorno, Italy but the weather was so bad that the captain elected to go around the top of Corsica and not through the strait. The weather today was perfect. Totally calm seas and very little breeze, unusual for this area. The Bonifiacio Straits are known for high winds and rough seas as several currents come together between the islands and the strait acts as a wind tunnel.



Corsica (France) is to the north and Sardinia (Italy) to the south, separated by about 7 miles of strait at the narrowest point. I’m estimating that by eye so it may be off a mile or two. (Ed Note: Apparently I have a pretty good eye. I’m home now and looked up the Strait, it’s exactly 7 miles wide at the narrowest point. See www.encyclopedia.com/html/B/Bonifaci.asp Yikes!!). Needless to say there has been a lot of conflict in this area in the past. We are heading to Minorca, Spain. We stopped there May 2 and the weather was cool, windy and cloudy. It will be interesting to see how much as changed in two weeks.



For lunch the Lido had a curry bar again and the made-to-order curry was a combo of scallops, shrimp and mussels. He made it very hot for me with extra coconut milk, Thai style. It was great!!



Woody, the comic magician is back on board and he did the same act as his first one on the last cruise. I thought it was funny again. He adlibs with the audience so much that the humor was very different although the illusions were the same.

(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger