28 April 2022 - Milazzo

This has been a superb stop over, in Milazzo.

Only about 500 meters down the road, the fishermen sell their catch direct from their boats and we bought an unknown fish, but something closely related to tuna, if not tuna. I don’t think we bought a baby, but I haven’t seen a tuna quite so small. It will do 2 or 3 dinners, I think. Along side the fish stalls was the green grocer selling fruit and veg direct from his truck, then into the little grocery shop for bread and cheese, and we have our fresh food supplies replenished.

We also managed to get a connector for the broken pump, so we will be able to pump up the tender when we need it.

There is lots of activity, along the seafront, of tidying up for the start of the summer season. Lots of trees are being pollarded, for example.

After siesta time we walked up the 109 steps to the castle, and had a couple of hours of culture. It’s a shame that the view from the water front is of an oil refinery, so you have to try to ignore that. From the castle, however, you can see both sides of the peninsula and the East side rather looked like Il Capo Posho, with a very chic looking hotel and sandy beach.

Apparently, historically, Milazzo is one of the most fought over towns in Sicily. The Greeks arrived in 716 BC, after which it was contested by successive armies from the Carthaginians to the Aragonese. It even became a base for the British during the Napoleonic Wars, while 50 years later Garibaldi won a victory here that set the seal on his conquest of Sicily. The castle was originally built by the Spanish and, within it’s walls there is duomo, a monastery and the remains of a palazzo, which later, and into the 20th century, was used as a prison. The views of the promontory of Capo Milazzo were fantastic. There was also a little museo about the local tuna fishing. I do hope the marine biologists can generate conditions for stocks to start to recover. There is a protected marina area around the Cape, so it must be work in progress.

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Miles 2022 - 202

Tricia (and Steve)