Strait of Messina, Italy: myth, magic & a much-needed bridge

Hello, Sicily.

When Odysseus sailed the Strait of Messina he had a tough decision to make.  Sailing too close to Calabria would mean passing Scylla, a sailor-snatching sea-nymph with a body composed of ravening dogs.  Too close to Sicily and the huge whirlpool mouth of Charybdis could suck down the entire ship.

Ultramarine.

Navigating the water between mainland Italy and Sicily has always meant being caught between a rock and a hard place.  The water is turbulent here where the Ionian Sea (to the south) meets the Tyrrhenian Sea (to the north).  Also making trouble for mariners of old, a rare atmospheric phenomenon called the Fata Morgana after Morgan Le Fay of Arthurian legend (you know, Camelot).  The sorceress was said to lure sailors to their death here by producing a mirage of land, castles and all. Though no longer attributed to witchcraft, the optical illusion is still occasionally observed today.

Waiting for the ferry.

Causing much more trouble for travellers these days is 21st-century traffic.  Cars jockey for position to get onto the ferry that crosses the Strait, then pour off like racing pigs at a state fair.  On the Messina side this year, frustration reigned as we found all ferry signage on the highways approaching Messina had been removed.
In Calabria, the A3 highway - a major route at high elevation through the mountains - was reduced at points to one narrow lane clogged by heavy equipment, hurtling trucks and construction preparing for the new bridge across the Strait.  For Pat and I, a familiar route had become nerve wracking and confusing.  Drivers who've never been down this way could find current conditions paralyzing and dangerous.

The idea of a bridge over the Strait of Messina has been around since Roman times and revived many times since.  Under Silvio Berlusconi, completion was projected for 2016.  Now that he's resigned?  Who knows.
Personally, I'm not happy to see an ancient vista altered forever but look forward to a new wonder of the world.  Until the bridge is built, I'll be approaching the Strait in a train, not a rental car.

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2011

Up front, Elizabeth Elkin. 

Fibre artist Amanda McCavour. 

I always meet the most interesting people at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.  Fewer exhibitors this year, surprising since it's the event's 50th anniversary but half of Nathan Phillips Square being fenced off for construction may have had something to do with that.  As always, though, quality at this juried show was high.
The TOAE gives out thousands of dollars in awards every year and it's fun to see when my picks align with the judges'.  My first stop is always the TOAE information booth to pick up a brochure that lists all artists by medium and maps booths.  Art Walks (Sat. and Sun. p.m.) also originate at the booth.
Grabbing my attention this year: Annyen Lam (printmaker turned paper cutter), Susan Gale (bright paintings of Toronto), Ian Mcmurrich (digital portraits with candy-coloured auras), Kevin Roach (folk art with cottage country finds), Gordon Leverton (still, Hopper-esque houses), Jorgen Lauritzen (Dali-like digital images of Toronto's lonelier outbacks).

Splashing water, seagulls, ice cream. 

It was easy to spend several hours browsing the booths, taking an espresso break inside City Hall at the Cafe by the Square, having a cone by the fountain, chatting with the artists and getting an impromptu lesson on how to work my new camera (thanks Jorgen!).
Canada's largest juried outdoor art show is a great opportunity to meet and talk with artists and buy work directly from them at reasonable prices.
The 50th annual Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition will be up at Nathan Phillips Square, Queen and Bay, Toronto, until Sunday, July 10, 2011.

Annyen Lam's incredible paper cutting.

Jorgen Lauritzen & his Dali-esque digital media.

Ontario-inspired folk art by Kevin Roach.

Changing Sicily

A wedding near Marsala.

Greek temple at Segesta.

Having married into a Sicilian family and visiting the island often enough to consider it my second home, I still succumb to Stendhal syndrome within an hour or two of arrival, a willing victim of its beauty and exoticism.
At the crossroads of the Mediterranean but on the fringe of Europe (it's closer to Africa than Rome), Sicily's history is a mosaic of light and shadow, complex patterns of repeated invasion, dark violence and dazzling cultural brilliance.
Highlights this year: taking the funicular at sunset up to cloud-bound Erice, watching scarab beetles stitch their way across the dunes at Paradiso nature preserve, visiting Segesta in the rain, staring in awe at the Byzantine mosaics (c. 1140 AD) of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, exploring the Etna Coast and the baroque town of Acireale.
High above the ocean on the eastern side of the island, Acireale makes a great base for exploring this area which features large in Greek mythology as the home of the cyclops Polyphemus who, blinded by Ulysses, hurled rocks after his departing ship. Huge "monster" with a single, red-gushing eye...gee, sounds like a volcano! Mt. Etna's lava has reached the sea many times and the Riviera dei Ciclopi's dramatic coastline of contorted rocks and black sand makes it a popular resort area. The Etna Coast CVB has a great website with many accommodation links. We stayed at the Santa Tecla Palace and savored its saltwater infinity pool and delicious buffets. A great pick in the centre of town is the Michelin-starred Hotel Maugeri; their restaurant specializes in traditional Sicilian dishes featuring local seafood. You don't have to be staying there to eat there, but if it's Carnival season (Feb/Mar) you'll want to. The Maugeri is right on the procession route.

Papier mache carnival float elements begin with clay sculpture.

From traditional puppet theatre to exuberant Carnevale celebrations that draw 800,000 visitors every year, I'll be writing about Acireale's attractions on Examiner.com over the winter. Visiting the carnival float workshops - meeting the artists and seeing how they create the massive floats from not much more than wire, clay and papier mache - was one of my top travel experiences ever.
Despite touring pleasures and joy on the family front (a wedding, a new baby), I was in tears several times by changes evident on the island since my last visit. More bare hillsides, their vineyards torn out (the government is paying people not to produce), increased signage (some for road safety, much of it for advertising) interfering with classic vistas in some spots, protective fences around monuments (a good thing and necessary, as are admission fees for their upkeep, but it wasn't that long ago we could wander in as freely as Goethe did). Big box stores and shopping complexes like the new Poseidon center outside Palermo, more than one McDonalds...some see uglification, most see much-needed jobs. Prosperity has been long in coming and, to tell the truth, many of the new amenities (like the availability of EEC-mandated public washrooms) make life a lot easier for travellers as well as locals.
For all the development, Sicily is still one of the easiest places on the planet to incur Stendhal Syndrome. Change is accelerating, though, so I say again as I always do: the time to see Sicily is now.

View of the saltwater infinity pool at the Santa Tecla Palace hotel, Acireale, Sicily, Italy.

Got a question? Email me and I'll try to help.

Atlantic City, End of Season

Lenny Kravitz at the Borgata Casino.

You can climb inside Lucy the Elephant.

Atlantic City, end of season. Walked miles on the shore with the gulls, watched the still-out-there surfers, munched salt-water taffy, then wandered back along the Boardwalk. Believe it or not, AC's a great place to commune with nature and get some exercise.
I've always found this old resort town very atmospheric and never more so than this trip: old Absecon Lighthouse, streets after which the original Monopoly game properties were named, the Atlantic thundering ashore at Margate where I visited Lucy, America's First Roadside Attraction, dating from 1881.
Not everything here's old, though.  Lots of young people on the packed WestJet flight (just over an hour from Toronto) were headed for a weekend at Harrah's and the Borgata casino-resort.  I went to the Borgata, too, later and was glad to see that the huge hotspot had spent money on real art, decking their lobby and hallways with giant pieces by glass wizard Dale Chihuly, pieces that, to me, evoked underwater lifeforms, coral and such.

That night I caught Lenny Kravitz's show at the Borgata's event center. Its relatively intimate size meant we could groove quite close to the stage. Roger Daltrey was scheduled to appear a few weeks later, and Lady Gaga in January.  I'll definitely check concert listings before my next visit.
And I'll be back as soon as I can.  I've got a real soft spot for this oceanside city, especially when the casino lights glisten on the dark, rainswept streets.

Perfect fall weekend in Montreal

October, by Tissot.

The romantic Pierre du Calvet hotel, Montreal.

Montreal was wonderful. Pat and I caught the pre-dawn train from Guildwood; he did some work while I snuggled into my seat, watching the sun rise over the trees we flew past, waiting for drinks and brunch to arrive. Via Rail Business Class truly rocks.
A few hours later, we were settling into the Pierre du Calvet hostellerie in Vieux Montreal. Built in 1725, its old stone walls are stuffed with antiques and atmosphere.
Outside the weather was cool and drizzly which made it a pleasure to duck into Crepes Cafe for crepes suzette and cappuccino, browse crafts at Marche Bonsecours and eat buckets of steaming mussels and frites at the charming (and Tintin accented) bistro Le Petit Moulinsart.
Other highlights included a remarkable meal at Toque!, the brilliant evening lantern display at the Jardin Botanique's Chinese Garden and the J.W. Waterhouse show at the Musee des Beaux Arts. Circe, sirens and The Lady of Shalott--eighty paintings by the "modern" Preraphaelite, some of which haven't been seen by the public since they were sold by Waterhouse to private collectors in the 1880s.  Circe Poisoning the Pool was a standout; Waterhouse enjoyed painting water as well as women.  October, by Tissot, was another important piece I caught there.
As for Cinderella?  I did find her, not the cheese but a wistful waif in a display of contemporaries' paintings in the anteroom to the Waterhouse show. I looked up and there she was, Cendrillon/Cinderella.  How strange, and wonderful, was that?

Great Escapes

The Beach(es) in east Toronto.

After getting caught in Jonas Brothers fandemonium on Bloor last week when the Toronto International Film Festival opened (no, I didn't spot Joe himself jogging, just the swarm of fans and paparazzi chasing him), I escaped TIFF madness on Sunday by going down to the Beaches. I started at Woodbine where the volleyballers--and white cruiser bobbing offshore--reminded me vividly of Miami, then walked along the water's edge past Kew, Leuty and Scarboro beaches. It was a gorgeous day with big tumbles of cloud overhead so I flicked my camera to video mode and made my own souvenir record.

There were a record number of female directors at this year's TIFF which made me think of Ida Lupino, who made the jump from starlet to Hollywood's first female director (of mostly low-budget, issue-driven films) and first female director of a noir. Her best title? Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951), in which she both starred and directed.

Beaches and movies, both great escapes. Famed director (In the Heat of the Night, 1967, and The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968, for two) Norman Jewison grew up in the Beaches, witnessing the daily parade of human drama through his parents' Depression-era convenience store at the corner of Queen Street E. and Kippendavie. He got so good at telling stories that his buddies would pool their pennies to send Norman to the local movie house, knowing they'd get their money's worth when he returned and reenacted the afternoon's feature down to the last dramatic detail.

Shadows grew long, I went home and turned on Turner Classic Movies, another favorite escape. Fiddling with my camera I accidentally deleted the little movie I'd made and so far haven't been able to figure out how to retrieve it.  Perfectionist Ida wouldn't approve.