Roanoke (CL 145) - Naval Cruise Book

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w 1 fja -z .4 Y V, . Tj jj.. all , fy f f Z if f' f ff f f 4 ,I jafjvf salesmen, purveyors of the knickfknacks found at any American amusement park-they all came to Augusta. And for nine long days they did business with the Navy of the Sixth Fleet. Syracuse, an hour's journey by train from Augusta, is a city which at one time had a population of a million people and which had already enjoyed several centuries of glorious exist' ence when the Apostle Paul visited it while en route to Rome in the First Cen' tury A.D. It was visited by some 700 of us by courtesy of the professional tour arrangers who were to become a solid part of the Roanolccls cruise to the Med. This was our first experience with guides who had a great feeling for the dramatic, and as we were led through representative pieces of a culture long gone, we felt that Tony, our little Sicilian guide, was carrying us in spirit back 25 centuries. The Greek naturalfstone theater, the finest of its kind in existence today, and the Roman amphi' theater, speak of two different periods of historic significance. The great marble quarry with its Ear of Dionysius will long be remembered. ln the Ear, a highly vaulted cavern built in the shape of a human ear, our guide demonstrated an echo the like of which has never been duplicated. It is an echo that returns amplified many times, whether it be the echo of a scarcely audible whisper or the sharp crack that returns from a clap of the hands. Modern Syracuse is a city of 50,000 people. Not badly damaged by World War ll, Syracuse today is perhaps Sicily at nearly its best - independent, industrious, hardfworking. After leaving Augusta and exercising at shore bombardment off Malta and landing some of the Fleet Marines, the ships of the Sixth Fleet parted company, dispersing to different ports, the Roanoke and Sierra steaming northward to Messina, located on the Strait of Messina, a few scant miles across from the hilly southwest coast of Italy. Although Messina was a much larger and more prosperous city than the village of Augusta, little more was offered in the way of entertainment. We had not yet arrived at what in the Navy is known as a good liberty port. But sightseeing was available, and many of us took advantage of it. Dominating the entire eastern coast of Sicily is towering Mount Etna. It had been visible from 19a swf. Looking our City of .Nlcssimi across tlic Straits toward Italian Mainland Augusta, and it was even closer to Messina, its snow'capped peak rising into the clouds in such manner that frequently it looked like another fleecy cloud riding the billows of the air waves-until one noticed that it never moved as did the real cloud banks around it. We had become fairly well acquainted by now with the lire system of money. The exchange had become rather easy, for, as 625 lire equal one American dollar, we multiplied by four twice, dropping the last three numbers, or, if we felt that we were seasoned travelers, we just divided by six, dropping the last two numbers. Sort of like the old story of the rapid means of counting the cows in a field. Because there were not too many sights to be seen in Messina, after one had taken a gander at the famous clockftower of the Cathedral and perhaps had climbed to the top of one of the hills overlooking the city, a lot of us went for a day' long trip with our American Express agent to the lovely resort town of Taormina, twenty miles south of Messina.

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Here, at one of the Winter playgrounds of Euro' pean royalty, perched part Way up a cliff overlooking the traditionally blue Mediterranean, We got the feeling We were at last getting some real enjoyment out of our Mediterranean cruise. We found the Sicilians friendly, as they had also been in Augusta, Syracuse and Messina, but here also there was good food, excellent scenery and an absence of havvlcers trying to sell their cheap Wares at high prices. To have dinner on the terrace of one of the hostelries, looking out on pastel villas, formal gardens, orange and lemon trees leading down the Winding hillside to the sea, is an experience even Capri cannot offer. As one retired U.S. Army colonel, vacationing in the year 'round paradise, said, 'Taormina is closer to heaven than any American deserves to be. Distinguished Italian military leaders in Messina Taormina, Sicily, playground of European royalty and American sailors Q20