Gerard M. Foley
Travel & Photography Collection
Sicily
In November, 2001, I flew in a Fairchild Dornier 328JET from Columbus to LaGuardia Airport, in New York City. We passed by lower Manhattan where the World Trade Towers had been destroyed in a terrorist attack less than two months before.
After a night in my son's apartment, I went on aboard an Alitalia 747-200 to Fiumicino Airport (Rome). where I changed to an Alitalia MD-82 to Catania in Sicily. A car took me to the Bay Palace Hotel below Taormina. where I stayed for most of a week.
I then took the train to Siracusa, where I stayed for another week in the Hotel Roma in Ortigia, the island which was Greek Syracuse. At the end of that time I was driven back to Catania and returned to the United States via Fiumicino.
This time my transatlantic flight was in an Alitalia 767. We landed on the runway from which an American Airlines A300-600 had departed a few days earlier, in the opposite direction. The Airbus lost its vertical stabilizer and rudder over the bay. The scars of its descent were visible below us as we approached Kennedy Airport.
New York Harbor
Statue of Liberty
Downtown Manhattan November 2001
Midtown Manhattan
George Washington and Triboro bridges
Shea Stadium
Mt. Etna from Catania
Night on the bay below Taormina
Large Hotel Complex
Funavia to Taormina
Straits of Messina and Calabria
Taormina
Train!
Looking towards Messina
My hotel, the Bay Palace Hotel
Via Roma, Taormina
Ruins of a Norman Fort above Taormina
Via Roma, Taormina
Church
Another church
Madonna in Arch on Via Roma
Everything is up
or down
except Via Roma
Here I found a taxi
to take me on the winding road back to the Bay Palace Hotel
Approach to the Greek Theater of Taormina
West (Roman) entrance to Greek Theater
West antechamber of the theater inside the Roman entrance
West approach to the stage
Looking back to the west entrance
Toward the east entrance
East antechamber of theater
Greek Theater of Taormina
Stage - Brick work and pit are Roman
View from the west antechamber
Mountain beyond the theater
Native plants or American?
From the theater
Town and mountain beyond the theater
Not a shortcut to the Funavia
Another approach to the Bay Palace
19th century tower, Bay Palace in the background
Bay Palace Hotel
Looking north
Near the Bay Palace Hotel
Two cats (or is that a shadow?)
Bay from Bay Palace Hotel
Siracusa
The island of Ortigia is a substantial part of Siracusa. Except for the pictures in the Archeological Park, the scenes are in Ortigia.
At Taormina railway station
Siracusa Cathedral, former Temple of Apollo
Statue in front of Duomo
Another statue in front of Duomo
Piazza in front of Duomo
The cathedral incorporates the ancient temple of Athena
Cathedral of Siracusa
Columns of Greek Temple of Apollo
Main Altar of Cathedral of Siracusa
A side chapel in the Cathedral of Siracusa
Rear of Duomo of Siracusa
Church on the Via Roma of Siracusa
Via Roma
Via Roma
Bikers in front of Hotel Roma
Sicilian gentlemen in front of Hotel Roma
Sicilian ladies in front of Hotel Roma
Swabian Palace Museum
A courtyard near the museum
Courtyard of the museum
Pieta
Greek quarry in the archeological park
Huge Greek altar
Approach to the Greek Theater
The Greek Theater
Greek quarry. In the middle is what appears to be the remains of a tower.
Top of the "tower"
The "Ear of Dionysus". Dionysus was one of the Greek tyrants who ruled Sirucusa and was thought to know everything that went on in the city.
Inside the "Ear", which is really a cavern quarried for building stone.
Looking back to the entrance to the "Ear".
Part of the quarry.
Flowers in the quarry.
Roman amphitheater.
Guardian of the archeological park
Main part of Siracusa from Ortigia
A modern Catholic church in Siracusa
Mt. Etna from a speeding car on the motorway from Siracusa to Catania.
A town near Fiumicino Airport, Rome.