See the link below for some info about the church.

JDA.

JDA.

JDA.

I believe this is the Temple of Jupiter, followed by a view of the landscape below and into the distance.

Sicily is very beautiful. In fact most of the island, the south of Italy, and the west coast of Turkey ALL reminded me of California, where I live. Here in Sonoma County, we have many families that immigrated from Mediterranean countries—and I can understand why they like California.

JDA.

The next morning we got up early, left our hotel, and spent about an hour and a 1/2 in the museum. Like most museums in Italy, one is allowed to take photographs of almost anything, as long as no flash is used. That means well-lit items photograph well, and others do not....

Here are two shots of Greek red-&-blackware pots. I love these things, but I tend to concentrate on specimens that display something that interests me otherwise. Notice that the winged male figure (perhaps an Eros) is wearing beads; as is the the female figure in the lower photo. At first, I thought the guy was presenting the woman with an elaborate necklace. But then I realized it's something like a systrum or tambourine. (A musical instrument.)

JDA.

It's a strand of Phoenician Period glass beads with stratified eyes, dating from ca. 500 BCE. These are the most comon beads from the time, found in all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, that were visited by the Phoenicians—who were the first big-volume itinerant bead-sellers of antiquity.

It is a nice and representative group of eye beads.

JDA.

The buildings have been equipped with modern roofs, probably in an effort to protect the mosaics from erosion. But the new roofs look sort of funny. They have also constructed raised walkways, so you can look down but never touch anything.

Everywhere, the mosaics are being slowly repaired, and that day several technicians were pursuing their slow and painstaking skillful work. So, in the following shots, where you see a pale frame, this is a partitioned area where they are fixing a damaged part of the mosaic. I tried to avoid these shots, but some of the mosaics are so amazing, I HAD to shoot them.

It is clear that the Romans built this place as a sort of destination to get away from it all and go hunting, and take baths. You cannot imagine all the hunting scenes rendered in the floors of various sunken bath rooms and gymnasia (exercise floors and game rooms).

So the following are some of the mosaic images I liked the best.

JDA.

These geometrical designs will be followed by some pictorial mosaics.

JDA.

JDA.

My first photos were taken at a store that had some nice amber and coral beads in their window. I was attracted to the amber, because Sicily used to be one of the important non-Baltic sources of amber in antiquity, and up until the late 19th century. Nevertheless, it seems very few people know about this anymore.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from the storeowner that she had these amber pieces because they were visually similar to old-time Sicilian amber. However, she was frank to say these particular pieces came from Chiapas, México (!).

Because Sicily is not far from Naples, the stores in Taormina often have great displays of coral jewelry. We often hear nowadays that most or all coral jewelry comes from China, and that the Neapolitan industry is almost belly-up. However, I saw very little dyed Chinese coral here; and most of it appeared to be decent or very good Mediterranean coral.

JDA.

JDA.

The framed image is the largest micro-mosaic I have ever seen. These are usually small pieces—like pins and brooches. But this one is about 8" x 10"—depicting a religious heart (of Mary or Jesus?) It is quite an amazing piece.

JDA.

Below is a window of modern pieces, made from a hodgepodge of available elements. Note the new reproductions or fakes of "Tibetan" beads from China.

JDA.

JDA.

JDA.

Here's a view of Italy in the distance from the ferry.

I'll continue the story tomorrow.

Jamey