Leyte (CV 32) - Naval Cruise Book

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SHOPPING SPREE, SPAGHETTI STYLE DURING our visits to five Italian ports, we really went all out for shopping. Millions of lira were spent in amassing loot such as oil paintings. cameos, gloves, watches, music boxes and souvenirs of every description. Gibraltar had little to offer, save its excellent tweeds and other cloths. In France you could buy the best of perfumes, but how pretty can you smell? And, of course, such places as Greece, Tripoli and Cyprus were barren, Grecian dolls and statuettes the only worthwhile objects to be found. But Italy eased the gift problem for everyone. Actually, what von couldn ' t find in Italy would be difficult to un- cover in the States. So, in ecstasy, the souvenir sharks swarmed ashore, loaded with lira, to take or be taken. First purchase. The chestnut vender scores again! Check and check again. Good cameos were hard to find. From lamps to oil paintings. All this and more could be had anywhere in Italy. From Leicas to Baby Brownies. Name it and you could have it.

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TAORMINA SOME thirty miles south of Messina lies the pic- turesque antique resort town of Taormina. Her elevated position gives a beautiful view of the coast- line with Mount Etna to the south completing a scene of magnificent charm. The town was founded by the Greek colonists who left this theatre, 377 feet in diameter, seating 40,000 people. The pit was used to hold animals when the Romans used the theatre for their blood- thirsty games. Today, Taormina is the chief resort town of Sicily and rivals Capri for its scenery and quaint charm. The winding road op the steep cliffs Panorama of the town The guide gives us a blow-by-blow description of the battles of two thousand years ago. In this arena the gladiators fought to attain glory, money, or death.

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LEGHORN (LIVORNO)-NOVEMBER 23-28 WHO can forget the rainy Thanksgiving period that we spent in Leghorn, Italy? Rain storms and rough seas limited liberty to a couple of days, yet almost everyone got ashore for a look at the wonders of Northern Italy. Leghorn, a Nazi stronghold in 1944, took a ter- rific punishment. Ruined buildings and a harbor littered with wrecks reminded us of the furious fight- ing of five years ago. We were anchored about a mile outside the breakwaters; therefore the boat-runs, on the days when we had only six feet swells, were long and rough. Liberty in Leghorn proved about the same as in Messina— souvenirs, cameos, and, of course, vino. Leghorn had a few sig hts of interest so the intel- lectuals took buses to see the famous towns of Pisa and Florence. Be no- One of the more sanitary meat markets Leghorn ' s major point of interest was the Italian Naval Academy. Several hundred Italian naval officers and cadets went out on Friday, November 25 to spend their first day at sea aboard a carrier. They were greatly impressed by the flying and dive bombing of our airdales.