San Marcos (LSD 25) - Naval Cruise Book

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Taorminn, Sicily This small Sicilian village was the site of the first tour by San Marcos personnel in the Mediterranean area. Taoromina is regarded by many world travelers as among the loveliest spots on the earth. It is reached by a narrow, but modern carriage road which winds itls way up the mountainside to the town some 600 feet above the sea. lt's quite a road for Sicilian taxi drivers to introduce themselves on. Their driving is as breath-taking as the scenery. The village itself holds no pretensions to fame other than itsi beautiful picturesqueness. The heart of the town is com- posed of about one street which is close to a mile in length. Hotels and Curio shops border the sides of the road and to the east of town stands a Roman theatre, which was restored upon the remnants of an earlier Greek theatre. However, the real appeal of Taoromina is not in any works by man, but by the sheer beauty of it's unsurpassable scenery. From the V heights of the small town, once quite active, one can see long stretches of the coastline flanked by rugged mountains. At night myriads of lights dot the mountains and sea, all of which is dwarfed in significance by the towering, majestic outlines of Mount Etna. 128

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Mt. Etna ' ta 'n Cata 'a th ' Dunfig our S Y 1 .nl ' ere fvere two eXCe11ent tours, one to the famous volcano, Mt. Etna and another to a vil- lage lugh on a mountain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea called Taormina Mt Etn b . th the two found the eager tourist boarding a bus not far from the dock where Om: ngaliant Qdiinvias :n:lo0?dP012'11har ton: of 1 ' cline to the to of th h hy - r ' e we up their flnibiut half way to Eur deitixjtnuvolcano was.fa1rly good, but unfortunately the condition of our bus was not. Having S? e i . . -1011, Old falfhflll, the vehicle's tempermental radiator, decided to show that 'she still had quite a bit of spunk with which to blow off steam. She continued to do so after numerous wat U- d fl ' ' er 1 an we re2Ched 2 115061, not far from OUT Obi active. I Here we quenched our thirst and were off to what we thougljii woulldnble h ' f - ' A' T' 'C - the top.Of 17 eagfeaf 111 erno it wasn't lhe top. We had to hike the rest of the way. Well we triedg but with little success. V01C9-DIC 9-Sh 15 not an easl' thmg '30 walk On. We found this our and so did our shoes However it was an interestin tour and most of us enjoyed it completely, after all there was a meal included in the price , g Rome For many of us, a trip to Rome was something dreamed of for many years. Whether from a religious or historical stand- point, Iam sure it fullfilled our fondest expectations. A conducted tour of the city took us first of all to Vatician City, f,'.where we saw St. Peter 's Church. 'Ifhis is definitelyg one of the most outstanding monuments of its kind in the world. Inside were numerous paintings, mosaics, and carvings by history's most outstanding artisis. From St. Peter's Square we rode outside the walls of the city to the Catacombs. This subterranean trip was most interesting inlseeing many ancient tombs. We then went to the Coliseum. This structure in itself was another marvel of the ages -- inany centuries old and yet in excellent condition. just across from the Col- iseum were the ruins of the Roman Forum. With the aid of a good imagination it was simple to reconstruct things as they were in Caesar 's- day.. A While in Rome we were afforded the privilege of an au ience wi p experience for all, especially as he addressed the members of the American Armed Forces in English. 1 ' ' ' A h f C tantine St. Paul's Cathedral In addition we s d' 'th Po e Pius XII. I am sure this was a most moving aw the Tomb- of the Unknown Soldier, the Trajan Forum, rc o ons , plus many more famouss places. . I A , A in a visit to one of our civilization's -oldest and most distinguished cities. So it was with a group of American Sailors 127, ww.-and-unb0Q

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Rwcera The RiVie1'a- . to moft of U5 on the Cruise - was adopted as our home port. The playground of the world and we had many 0PP01'tumt1e5 to Vlew all of ws beauty and splendor. The tour of the Riviera cities gave us a chance to see all of the well known towns along the French P1aYgI'ound and all points of interest. Of all the tours that were offeredus -the day tour of the Riviera was most popular. To be at the fleet landing by 0800 was always the most difficult part of any tour, but once 3Sh0fe ' SPIUFS rose and interest grew. Arrived with cameras - buses were loaded and our tour was under- way. Each bus had an English Speaking Sl-lide - who in most cases - was well informed in the points to be covered. Gulfe Juan was our starting point and it was well known to all members of the Sixth Fleet - very little was said about it. As we Started down the C02-it tOwards Nice - we became fully aware of the beautiful country side of Southern France. Farms were well kept and everything looked so clean and fresh. We passed by the huge Airport of Nice and within a few minutes we were driving alfmg the Promenade des Anglais of Nice. Large and modern apartment houses face the beach and as we neared the center of Nice, - World-famous hotels were pointed out by our guide. We continued along the beach drive - passing through Nice toward the magnificent harbor of Ville-franche. On the hill above stood the tomb of the Unknown Soldier - which in itself is a spectable worth seeing. We drove around the harbor of Ville-franche and our guide pointed out homes of famous people who have summer villas over-looking the harbor - with all it's beauty. We continue down the coast and again we were taken back with the nat- ural beauty of this country. On our route we passed Cap Ferrat which proved to be another garden spot. I We drove through several colorful little towns and finally arrived at the world renowed Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo lies within the Principality of Monaco - which is the smallest counu-y in the world. It has it's own Government, Army-Navy, etc. , completely independent of France. We were taken through the well known Casino of Monte Carlo and shown the different games - where fortunes have been won and lost over many years. A very pretty park faces the Casino which made an excellent spot for many photos to be taken. We next visited the palace of the Prince of Monaco - where we .had a fine opportunity to look down upon the city of Monte Carlo and the surrounding beaches. With the usual amount of horn blowing, our bus climbed the windy road up to the venerable village of Eze. The build- in and houses are antique and tupical of early French architecture. From the top of the town we looked down - 1500 S5 feet on to the most breath taking view of the French coast we had ever seen. There are no words to describe its loveli- ness, After more picture taking and two beers - we proceded back toward Nice -this time the route was throughthe moun- tains we had seen from the beach drive. Lunch was served at a typical. French resteraunt and we had time to window shop, along the Sth Ave. of Nice - for an hour or so before we started to Grasse.