Messina 7am-2pm

[gemgia]

We have a very short day in Messina. I was leaning towards going to Taormina, but also think that a trip up Mt. Etna would be wonderful.

 

 

 

If anyone has any input, please help! I wish we could do both that day, but it seems like our time there is too limited!

 

Also, we'll be on HAL and they offer two Mt. Etna excursions. One goes to the Silvestri Craters (this sounds really interesting) and the other stops in Zafferana.

 

If anyone has gone to any of these places, please let me know your impressions! Thank you so much!

[Coolcruise02]

How close do you need to be to Mt. Etna? I understand the view from the theater gives you a great view/photo op of Mt. Etna.

[BigBearLady]

We have a very short day in Messina. I was leaning towards going to Taormina, but also think that a trip up Mt. Etna would be wonderful.

 

 

 

If anyone has any input, please help! I wish we could do both that day, but it seems like our time there is too limited!

 

Also, we'll be on HAL and they offer two Mt. Etna excursions. One goes to the Silvestri Craters (this sounds really interesting) and the other stops in Zafferana.

 

If anyone has gone to any of these places, please let me know your impressions! Thank you so much!

What is your sail date? I am also going on HAL's Noordam and we have the same times as you have in Messina. Sorry, I don't have first hand knowledge of this area, but I did read somewhere on Cruise Critic that one traveler was disappointed with Mt. Etna.

[Fblack]

The weather up at Mt. Etna can be unpredictable. We went a few years ago and it was blowing so hard my wife and many others would get off the tour bus. Taormina is the place to go if you have not been there. Just don't miss the ship.

[GSPLover]

How close do you need to be to Mt. Etna? I understand the view from the theater gives you a great view/photo op of Mt. Etna.

 

Depends upon the weather. When we were in Taormina in Oct it was beautiful. Mt Etna was totally hidden in clouds!

[gemgia]

What is your sail date? I am also going on HAL's Noordam and we have the same times as you have in Messina. Sorry, I don't have first hand knowledge of this area, but I did read somewhere on Cruise Critic that one traveler was disappointed with Mt. Etna.

 

 

 

It looks like we will be there after you. We're not sailing until June. thank you for the input about Mt. Etna. I hope you have a wonderful trip! We'll be looking for any tips you have when you get back!

[gemgia]

The weather up at Mt. Etna can be unpredictable. We went a few years ago and it was blowing so hard my wife and many others would get off the tour bus. Taormina is the place to go if you have not been there. Just don't miss the ship.

 

 

It sounds like Taormina shouldn't be missed. It really sounds beautiful.

 

Thank you for the info about the weather at Mt. Etna. I hadn't even thought of that. We had a similar situation at Clingman's Dome in the Smokies, it was too wet/foggy to enjoy it as much as we had hoped.

 

Since we haven't been to Sicily, Taormina is our choice for the short time we have there.

[Fblack]

And if you time before the ship sails, Messina has a very interesting church and clock tower very near the pier. It's about three blocks away.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Messina_Dome.jpg

[CrucianGal]

We took the same cruise last May and I would highly recommend Taormina. It is beautiful and you have many beautiful views of Mt. Etna once there. The only sad part was that the stay was too short. We used a ship excursion primarily for transportation to Taormina and to guarantee we wouldn''t miss the ship since it was a 2 pm departure. Once we arrived in Taormina we jumped off the tour and went exploring on our own. What a lovely day.

[cruisingmimi]

You will be able to see the Cathedral Church with the astrological clock from the port, it is a short walk. Here's a website describing the cathedral:

 

http://www.planetware.com/messina/cathedral-i-si-mect.htm

 

http://www.bestofsicily.com/sights.htm

 

Do be aware of the little children in the square where the cathedral is located. They will come up to you begging for money (at least when we were there they did). You will probably see their mothers sitting right inside the church also. We were advised not to give them money; however, it is difficult to see their little faces looking up to you begging.

 

You do not have a long time in port to be able to see that much. I would suggest that you book a ship's tour so that you will be back to the ship in time.

 

I have been to Taormina and it is absolutely beautiful there. You can visit the Greek Theatre and get a view of Mt. Etna from there (I have been told, didn't visit the Greek Theatre). There are many wonderful restaurants along the main street to taste some fantastic food.

 

We used Sicily Life for an all day tour:

 

http://www.sicily-tour.net/index.htm

 

They do offer a nice tour of Taormina and do pick up at the port in Messina.

 

Here's a limo service you could check out:

 

http://www.sicilylimousineservice.com/sicily/index.htm

 

Again, with such a short day in port you need to be aware of the distances between Messina and allow time to be back at the ship for your departure.

 

I do not think you would have enough time to visit Mt. Etna and Taormina without rushing from place to place. If I were making the choice, I would pick Taormina.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mary

[DrFUN]

.

 

We used Sicily Life for an all day tour:

 

http://www.sicily-tour.net/index.htm

 

They do offer a nice tour of Taormina and do pick up at the port in Messina.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mary

 

Dear Mary:

 

I'm planning on booking this company for 6-8 people on our roll call for Messina, where we're docked from 2-11 pm this June.

 

Were you pleased -- and do you think 8 people would be comfortable in their van?

 

Many thanks,

Mary-Lou

[dfwguy62]

Taormina is very nice and you can easily entertain yourself there for a few hours. From the Greek Theatre, you may or may not be able to view Mt. Etna from a distance. I've attached a picture of how it looked on our morning in Toarmina. It was slightly visible, but partially obscured by morning haze. In the picture, Etna is the white strip of stuff between the bricks, visible in the distance. I've also included some pictures of of the Silvestri Craters. Our tour had time to stop in Taormina and then continue on to the Silvestri. Or maybe it was the other way around. I forget. While interesting, there is not much there to see except the geologic craters/volcanic rock/soil/some vegetation/etc. You can get out and walk around the rim of a small crater or two. The one picture shows the lifts that can take you further up the mountain. But time probably permit that. There was a restaurant at the Silvestri that we ate lunch at. But not much else is there. Think geology. If that interests you, go for it.

 

Sorry, it appears I don't know how to show pictures via embedded links. They don't show up. Oh well.

[DrFUN]

Thanks so much for the info and for trying to post your photos. (It's sometimes hard to do that....) I should have mentioned that we want to go to Taormina (primarily) and possibly also Castelmolo.

 

Best,

Mary-Lou

[moyaroo]

We have a very short day in Messina. I was leaning towards going to Taormina,

 

If anyone has any input, please help! I wish we could do both that day, but it seems like our time there is too limited!

 

Taormina is one of the few places that was as good as the constant chattering about how marvelous it was going to be. The view of Mt. Etna from the Roman Theater is spectacular. I loved this place and wish I could go back.

 

The whole of the old city is walkable. Go from one end to the other and then taxi back to the train station (if that is your transport) if on ship's tour do as they say.

[lambs2]

We were in port that exact same time on the HAL Veendam in May 2007. We are the do-it-ourselves kind of cruisers, but for this port, because of the short time frame, we chose to take the ship tour to Taormina. Wow, what an amazing place and we had wonderful views of Mt. Etna framed by the Greco-Roman theater. A MUST SEE!

[samavarcruiser]

Checkout also

 

http://www.sicilylife.com/

 

:)

[DrFUN]

Checkout also

 

http://www.sicilylife.com/

 

:)

 

Thanks! Have you used them -- and were you pleased with their service?

[Bluesmama]

We have a very short day in Messina. I was leaning towards going to Taormina, but also think that a trip up Mt. Etna would be wonderful.

 

 

 

If anyone has any input, please help! I wish we could do both that day, but it seems like our time there is too limited!

 

Also, we'll be on HAL and they offer two Mt. Etna excursions. One goes to the Silvestri Craters (this sounds really interesting) and the other stops in Zafferana.

 

If anyone has gone to any of these places, please let me know your impressions! Thank you so much!

Thanks so much for posting this question as I'm also having a hard time waht to do given the limited time in this port. My daughter studied volcanies this past year in middle school so I think it would be thrilling to experience Europe's largest active volcano but since we dont have enough time to take the jeep tours to the higher regions I am not sure the Silvestri craters would be worth the significant travel time.

 

Taormina sounds lovely by what people say, but I also know we will have also been throguh lots of pretty villages/ruins on the cruise (on HAL in July) so I am not sure if that is a big attraction.

 

I really appreciate reading everyone's posts. I have looked into three differrent CC recommended tour operators including the HAL excursions. One says it can get us to Etna and Taormina but I am suspicious of the times.... I am so drawn to Mt. Etna but I know the iffy weather can be it all a wasted trip as well....

[DrFUN]

Thanks so much for posting this question as I'm also having a hard time waht to do given the limited time in this port. My daughter studied volcanies this past year in middle school so I think it would be thrilling to experience Europe's largest active volcano but since we dont have enough time to take the jeep tours to the higher regions I am not sure the Silvestri craters would be worth the significant travel time.

 

Taormina sounds lovely by what people say, but I also know we will have also been throguh lots of pretty villages/ruins on the cruise (on HAL in July) so I am not sure if that is a big attraction.

 

I really appreciate reading everyone's posts. I have looked into three differrent CC recommended tour operators including the HAL excursions. One says it can get us to Etna and Taormina but I am suspicious of the times.... I am so drawn to Mt. Etna but I know the iffy weather can be it all a wasted trip as well....

 

Thanks for your kind words. Which private operators did you contact -- and which sounded best? (We are going with Sicily Life.)

 

For limited time, the HAL tour will probably be best. On our longer port call at Messina (2-11 pm) HAL has a tour to the volcano that sounds interesting and probably fun for your daughter.

 

Best,

Mary-Lou

[Trash Queen]

We'll be on the Royal Princess in July and our stop in Messina will be from 8am-6pm.

 

Is the train station convenient to the port, and does anybody know how long the train ride is from Messina to Taormina??

 

Charlotte

[GSPLover]

The 'port' is the seawall along the harbor. About 15 minute walk to train station. Train to Messina - about an hour.

[lattelover]

It looks like we will be there after you. We're not sailing until June. thank you for the input about Mt. Etna. I hope you have a wonderful trip! We'll be looking for any tips you have when you get back!

 

Are you on the June 18 sailing from Rome? My group of 4 will be on that trip. I got a qoute from Sicily Life for tours from Messina. Are you on the roll call? If you're interested in sharing tours, post a message there.

[gemgia]

lattelover,

 

Yes! That's our cruise! I've registered on the Roll Call thread and we're getting very excited about the trip. We booked over a year ago, and can't believe that it is almost here!

 

For Messina, we've booked our excursion with HAL due to the short stay in port. I'm sure a private tour would be fine, but we were just a little worried about getting back to the ship with so little time to be ashore.

 

I'll look for you on our Roll Call Thread!

[Bluesmama]

Thanks for your kind words. Which private operators did you contact -- and which sounded best? (We are going with Sicily Life.)

 

For limited time, the HAL tour will probably be best. On our longer port call at Messina (2-11 pm) HAL has a tour to the volcano that sounds interesting and probably fun for your daughter.

 

Best,

Mary-Lou

Hi Mary Lou--we dont have that time in port (2-11)--ours is in the morning and much shorter..the three tour companies all have sicily in their names so I have got to check but havent decided which is best-while they all recommend Taormina over Mt. Etna. to will take us to Etna --just very expensive for three people--these private tours can be so much more reasonable with 6-8 people! Margo..