Catania
We arrived into sunny Sicily on the 9th February, keen to embark on our well thought out and precision planned trip. Well, we had at least organized our hotel for the first 2 nights in Catania. The airport is only 7 kms from the city centre which was just as well as the fare rate is astonishing and makes London cabs look like cheap public transport. We arrived safely enough, 40 Euros lighter and moved into out small, quiet and beautiful hotel just a few blocks from the main city square, Piazza Duomo.
Cantania is on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian sea and nestled in the shadow of Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano. We found Catania a slightly run down but interesting city with plenty of ornate terraces, squares and of course churches. It felt very safe which was a relief after Mags read a review of the hotel we were staying at by a customer as who car jacked as they arrived.
The highlight was our trip to the fish market which takes place every day just behind the main square, and is apparently the busiest in Sicily. There’s dozens of stall holders all shouting out their prices to a throng of people vying for the best spot and determined to get he best price for the seafood. It’s a riot of colour and noise, quite a performance on its own. Intermingled with the fish stalls are grocers, butchers, fromageries, dellies and so on. We stopped for lunch in one of the many seafood restaurants that circle the area. (Mags picked the expensive looking one) – Had a marvelous lunch of mixed seafood pasta and grilled bream, washed down with a very drinkable Sicilian white. Of course, all in the name of foodie research.
Catania’s streets are paved with tiles made from Volcanic rock, which only seems sensible and fair enough as its in plentiful supply, but it does have this quality of squealing when it comes into contact with rubber. There’s a constant screech in the air as cars run around the city sounding like a go cart race track.
It is a fairly quiet town despite the large student population and we de did find it quite hard to find anywhere for a drink in the evening that had any life in it. Perhaps we old fogies were just going out too early. On our second and final night we exhausted the town centre, traipsing around unsuccessfully looking for a lively bar. We headed back to the hotel and decided just to walk around the block to see if they were any local establishments. We found a small street with a clutch of Trattorias all grilling meat in the street, and a fair crowd of locals. We selected one and sat outside at a plastic table. It looked like a family run affair with Dad cooking the meat and his school age daughters serving. We somehow managed to order quail (for me) and something wrapped in aubergine that Mags had. (We don’t know what it was and frankly don’t want to know), with a tomato salad, beers and a carafe of surprisingly drinkable red from a barrel next to the barbeque – all for 11 Euros.
Taormina
Toarmina is a tourist destination a little way North up from Catania. We picked up our hire car in downtown Catania and zipped up the Motorway to our destination. Getting there was the easy bit, but finding the car park proved to be a little more challenging. The Sat Nav got a little confused in the tiny streets and we ended up driving round and round the town several times. We eventually called the travel agent we booked the place through and were directed to a huge car park at the foot of the town.
At this time of year Toarmina is very quiet – well shut actually. Not a lot to do is putting it mildly so booking a week here was in hindsight probably stretching it a little. But it is certainly a good place to wind down, and we both read several novels during our stay. Out little apartment was on the top floor of four flats with a large terrace with magnificent views of the town below, the Ionian sea and the Italian mainline in the distance.
We managed a short walk up a series of steps close to our apartment to a castle (castello) at the top of the cliff behind us. Here you get great views of Mount Etna when its not shrouded in cloud which it was in the day we were there. But the views were down the coast were stunning anyway.
Another must see is the well preserved Greek theatre which dominates the town. The Greeks founded it but the remaining ruins are mostly Roman. Again, great views from here over the town and along the coast.
Siracusa
We left bustling Taormina behind and headed south to Siracusa for a short stay, This is a larger town with a small medival quarter on an island called Ortigia, which is where we stayed. We arrived at our hotel after again lapping the town a few times, not helped by putting in the wrong destination into the Sat Nav.
The major adventure here was a trip to the Neopolis hosting a clutch of historic sites including a Greek theatre (yes, another one), a Roman ampitheatre, and a cave all located on a old quarry. We decided to walk there as it was only a few kilometers away. The old town quickly gives way a more commercial and industrial area and we soon felt like American tourists who have somehow got lost ion London and ended up in Hackney. Everything was suddenly a lot more ‘real’.
Despite being a large town, the old, touristy part was, like Taormina, was mostly shut. Did we arrive in Italy too early? We did locate a fantastic restaurant on the waterfront though and managed our first seafood platter of the trip overlooking the sea. (Just trying to keep the economy going).
Cefalu
A long drive north west across the island took us to Cefalu, a popular tourist destination near to Palermo. We’re here as I write this in our perfectly located apartment overlooking the beach below us 20 metres away. This is a very pretty town sheltered under a huge rock and featuring a very impressive cathedral (Duomo).
We’re just winding down here, enjoying the sun and strolling along the beautiful and largely deserted beach.
We’ve found a great way to learn Italian by watching their version of Millionaire on the TV, We sit with a dictionary and a glass of wine, trying to work out the question and the answer before the contestant does which we even managed to do a few times. Out Italian is coming along slowly and not surprisingly consists mostly of food items when we’re at the market or a restaurant. Pointing is still pretty useful but there’s not a huge amount of English spoken here. I ended up speaking French in one shop as that was our common least worst language.
Our current plan is to stay in Sicily for an extra week before heading off to Puglia. We have to travel through Calabia to reach Puglia and there looks like there’s been loads of snow there.
We arrived into sunny Sicily on the 9th February, keen to embark on our well thought out and precision planned trip. Well, we had at least organized our hotel for the first 2 nights in Catania. The airport is only 7 kms from the city centre which was just as well as the fare rate is astonishing and makes London cabs look like cheap public transport. We arrived safely enough, 40 Euros lighter and moved into out small, quiet and beautiful hotel just a few blocks from the main city square, Piazza Duomo.
Cantania is on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian sea and nestled in the shadow of Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano. We found Catania a slightly run down but interesting city with plenty of ornate terraces, squares and of course churches. It felt very safe which was a relief after Mags read a review of the hotel we were staying at by a customer as who car jacked as they arrived.
The highlight was our trip to the fish market which takes place every day just behind the main square, and is apparently the busiest in Sicily. There’s dozens of stall holders all shouting out their prices to a throng of people vying for the best spot and determined to get he best price for the seafood. It’s a riot of colour and noise, quite a performance on its own. Intermingled with the fish stalls are grocers, butchers, fromageries, dellies and so on. We stopped for lunch in one of the many seafood restaurants that circle the area. (Mags picked the expensive looking one) – Had a marvelous lunch of mixed seafood pasta and grilled bream, washed down with a very drinkable Sicilian white. Of course, all in the name of foodie research.
Catania’s streets are paved with tiles made from Volcanic rock, which only seems sensible and fair enough as its in plentiful supply, but it does have this quality of squealing when it comes into contact with rubber. There’s a constant screech in the air as cars run around the city sounding like a go cart race track.
It is a fairly quiet town despite the large student population and we de did find it quite hard to find anywhere for a drink in the evening that had any life in it. Perhaps we old fogies were just going out too early. On our second and final night we exhausted the town centre, traipsing around unsuccessfully looking for a lively bar. We headed back to the hotel and decided just to walk around the block to see if they were any local establishments. We found a small street with a clutch of Trattorias all grilling meat in the street, and a fair crowd of locals. We selected one and sat outside at a plastic table. It looked like a family run affair with Dad cooking the meat and his school age daughters serving. We somehow managed to order quail (for me) and something wrapped in aubergine that Mags had. (We don’t know what it was and frankly don’t want to know), with a tomato salad, beers and a carafe of surprisingly drinkable red from a barrel next to the barbeque – all for 11 Euros.
Taormina
Toarmina is a tourist destination a little way North up from Catania. We picked up our hire car in downtown Catania and zipped up the Motorway to our destination. Getting there was the easy bit, but finding the car park proved to be a little more challenging. The Sat Nav got a little confused in the tiny streets and we ended up driving round and round the town several times. We eventually called the travel agent we booked the place through and were directed to a huge car park at the foot of the town.
At this time of year Toarmina is very quiet – well shut actually. Not a lot to do is putting it mildly so booking a week here was in hindsight probably stretching it a little. But it is certainly a good place to wind down, and we both read several novels during our stay. Out little apartment was on the top floor of four flats with a large terrace with magnificent views of the town below, the Ionian sea and the Italian mainline in the distance.
We managed a short walk up a series of steps close to our apartment to a castle (castello) at the top of the cliff behind us. Here you get great views of Mount Etna when its not shrouded in cloud which it was in the day we were there. But the views were down the coast were stunning anyway.
Another must see is the well preserved Greek theatre which dominates the town. The Greeks founded it but the remaining ruins are mostly Roman. Again, great views from here over the town and along the coast.
Siracusa
We left bustling Taormina behind and headed south to Siracusa for a short stay, This is a larger town with a small medival quarter on an island called Ortigia, which is where we stayed. We arrived at our hotel after again lapping the town a few times, not helped by putting in the wrong destination into the Sat Nav.
The major adventure here was a trip to the Neopolis hosting a clutch of historic sites including a Greek theatre (yes, another one), a Roman ampitheatre, and a cave all located on a old quarry. We decided to walk there as it was only a few kilometers away. The old town quickly gives way a more commercial and industrial area and we soon felt like American tourists who have somehow got lost ion London and ended up in Hackney. Everything was suddenly a lot more ‘real’.
Despite being a large town, the old, touristy part was, like Taormina, was mostly shut. Did we arrive in Italy too early? We did locate a fantastic restaurant on the waterfront though and managed our first seafood platter of the trip overlooking the sea. (Just trying to keep the economy going).
Cefalu
A long drive north west across the island took us to Cefalu, a popular tourist destination near to Palermo. We’re here as I write this in our perfectly located apartment overlooking the beach below us 20 metres away. This is a very pretty town sheltered under a huge rock and featuring a very impressive cathedral (Duomo).
We’re just winding down here, enjoying the sun and strolling along the beautiful and largely deserted beach.
We’ve found a great way to learn Italian by watching their version of Millionaire on the TV, We sit with a dictionary and a glass of wine, trying to work out the question and the answer before the contestant does which we even managed to do a few times. Out Italian is coming along slowly and not surprisingly consists mostly of food items when we’re at the market or a restaurant. Pointing is still pretty useful but there’s not a huge amount of English spoken here. I ended up speaking French in one shop as that was our common least worst language.
Our current plan is to stay in Sicily for an extra week before heading off to Puglia. We have to travel through Calabia to reach Puglia and there looks like there’s been loads of snow there.
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