VOLCANO AND THE CYCLOPS
The Caronia, during her Spring Cruise to the Mediterranean, will sail a very historic sea lane, the way of Ulysses’ ancient ship whose wanderings inspired a monumental travelogue called “The Odyssey.”
During her own Odyssey, the GREEN GODDESS will drop anchor off the Sicilian port of Catania. Looming up gracefully as a mighty backdrop to this peaceful city is Mount Etna, the presiding giant of the island of Sicily for millennia. The ancients labelled it the workshop, or forge, of the god of the underworld who was called “Vulcan”.
At Catania most passengers will take a tour up the Sicilian shore past Etna's slopes bound for the lovely resort of Taormina. On the way, the guides will point out some lava rocks offshore. These, the Odyssey says, were thrown at Ulysses by a mortal fiend - the one-eyed giant, or Cyclops, who was in league with Vulcan. The Odyssey, which tells you how Ulysses got caught in that adventure, will make for interesting reading while you are on the Caronia!
Lunching in a deluxe hotel high over the cliffs at Taormina you will get a perfect view of the graceful Caronia as she steams proudly by in all her beauty and elegance, bound for Messina to pick you up again, so you won't have to waste time retracing your steps. You will arrive in Messina on your tour by mid-afternoon.
Then, when you go aboard and sail on again in your magnificent floating home, the memory of Ulysses will remain with you. For as you pass out through the narrow Strait of Messina between Sicily and the toe of Italy, overawed by the magnificent scenery, you will have to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis.
If you have grown stale on your Odyssey, here's what it says about this part of Ulysses’ perilous journey: Scylla was a rock on the Italian shore atop which lounged irresistible sirens whom no sailors could resist. On the Sicilian side, for those who laboured to avoid the siren songs from Scylla, lurked Charybdis, a tempestuous whirlpool that could hardly be escaped.
You'll enjoy reading how Ulysses got past those temptations too. But the Caronia will take you by proudly and smoothly as you cruise effortlessly through the very heart of the sea lanes of the ancient world, bound for Naples and its sleeping volcano plus several suburbs closely involved in the next episodes of Ulysses’ private cruise!
[Produced for the Spring Mediterranean Cruise departing New York 07 May 1966]