Alfred M. Staehle's Travelogue
1961 Virtual Great World Cruise
This travelogue presents transcripts of letters sent to family & friends by Alfred Staehle and his wife Lois, relating their experiences of places visited on Caronia's 1961 Great World Cruise. Collated by and shared with us by his grand-daughter, Sharon Atkins.
Messina, Taormina & Catania, Sicily
19 February 1961
Sunday
Arrive Messina 5.54am - Depart 12.24pm
Log Abstract…
At: 05:54 (LT) 04:54 (GMT) Messina arrival
Passage: 10 hours, 36 mins.
Voyage Distance: 176 miles
Average Speed: 16.60 knots
Messina & Taormina, Sicily
A.M.S…
Sunday morning, another beautiful sunny day, found our big green ship tied up at the Sicilian port of Messina.
A bus drove us over at first gradual slopes, and then over more mountainous roads with sharp, hairpin curves from about 9.30am to 11am until we reached the beautiful town of Taormina, high up, but right on the coast of Sicily.
In our humble opinion, Taormina, with its ancient Greek theatre later reconstructed by the Romans, its many colourful shops and streets, and especially its surprising hotel San Dominico, is everything the enthusiastic travel writers have said.
The drive from Messina to Taormina must, we believe, be classed with the Corniche drive on the French Riviera and the famous Amalfi drive in Italy from the standpoint of scenic beauty and sweeping panoramas. That we should still be enthusiastic at another Mediterranean coastline drive when our appetites for scenery might well have been sated attests to its deserved praise.
As we stood on almost the highest point at the Greek amphitheatre (or rather its ruins), the snow-clad Mt. Etna dominated the scene. With the sun shining brilliantly on the dazzling, pure-white mountain, framed in the huge Greek ruins, set against the azure-blue sea, the deep-green cedars, and the pinkish-white blossoms of almond and orange trees, it made an unforgettable picture no camera could quite capture.
San Domenico Palace: 1963 Lunch menuImage: The Blouin Collection
The San Domenico Palace Hotel
A.M.S…
This beautiful structure, formerly a Dominican convent in Taormina, sitting squarely and safely on a pinnacle about 650
feet above the sea, has indeed sumptuous facilities: lounges, gardens, dining rooms. Views and more views; apparently
good food (we had lunch there), about 300 rooms (I think this correct) all with bath, seems to have everything the most
fastidious traveller could want.
The rates, however, are rather near American rates. Decidedly not low cost as in Spain. $16 per day, per person, and I suspect this is without certain other charges such as taxes and gratuities which are part of the bill in most European hotels. This was another of the many places we had previously considered.
