November 14, 2024
Travel Day
As we were getting ready to depart another cruise ship came in. It was much smaller. It did the customary slow down, rotate 90 degrees, and back into the dock area. We’ll miss seeing the line up of boats from our flat.
We gathered are stuff and got down to the nearby bus stop to catch a local bus to Station Centrale. There’s a distinction here that’s hard to understand as there’s a Station Centrale for the train and one for the bus lines. We had to search and ask directions to find the bus station.
Once there it was easy to find the ticket office, get the tickets and Thom purchased some juices and sandwiches for later. The bus left nearly on time for the trip across Sicily.
We passed lots of farms and hills. The A19 is on an elevated viaduct for some distance and for part is only open on one side. Apparently, perhaps in 2015, some of the A19 broke. There seems to be some effort to get it fixed. The bus only lost about 10 minutes over the duration of the drive, and that was likely due to all the traffic we encountered on the way out of Palermo.
Arrival at the Cantania bus station (and train station) was pretty straight forward until we had to find a place to by a local 1-euro bus ticket. That took some wandering around, but Thom reappeared after finding 2 men somewhere inside the train station, and one of them just took 2 tickets out of his pocket and sold them. Google helped us find a bus going in our direction, L-EX, and got us close enough to walk to our new flat. We were met by Lorenzo who helped us in, showed us around, and gave us the keys. He also gave some suggestions for where to head for first night provisioning.
We settled in some and then wandered off in the dark – crazy drivers, motorbikes zooming every which way. The first shop wasn’t adequate. The second was OK – enough to get yogurt, milk, cream (for half and half) and some bananas and apples at a produce vendor. I like the prepackaged greens (rocket) and lettuce and spinach as I don’t bother washing those. We had a big salad with small tomatoes and greens, and tortellini and pesto, and of course the fresh local bread to dip in some olive oil.
The flat we’re in is enormous. We had hoped some family would join us here but they couldn’t make it work. So, we have this large 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, house with a spacious kitchen and living room. Each bedroom has a balcony ranging from small to large, and two even have a table and 2 chairs. There’s a washing machine and a great array of drying cables in the balcony near the “laundry”. The bedrooms are on the back side, over adjacent patios and gardens away from the busy Grimaldi St out front.T
November 15, 2024
Woke up after a great night’s sleep. There are shutters on the 2 windows that block nearly all the sun light!!! How nice.
It’s sunny and clear though Mt Etna seems to be clouded over.
Seemed a walk, about a mile, to the beach area was a good start. Also, there’s a Lidl near there and we think we should visit a larger supermarket as what’s near the flat are pretty limited in choices.
The walk along the main road is noisy. As we approach the beach it seems as if we are on a limited access highway on-ramp with cars and trucks speeding by as if we weren’t even there. Unnerving.
The areas on the approach to the beach look very worn out. Trash everywhere and a lot of small buildings that seem broken and/or boarded up. There were a few people on the beach sitting and enjoying the sun. We find an old pallet and some boards to camp out on. Thom found a knotted up pile of line and fishing net and unraveled some line. He likes “rope”. Only he leaves it behind for someone else as there’s no point in lugging it around.
I waded into the water which is not too cold and seems very clear. 2 people were swimming. It’s a beautiful spot in spite of the broken-down feel.
Across the street we saw a strange looking building with a Happy Wok – all you can eat China buffet posted out front. The building looks like it’s a wreck!! Turns out from 2003-2010 it was an ice rink. It still carries the name but serves more as a small arena and convention center.
We left the beach and walked closer to the building and saw a tour bus unload a bunch of people. I guess they bought the “all you can eat” Chinese buffet! We were able to walk in at the same time as the tour, pretending to be a part of it, find the WC, and then walked out. Thom thought we might join the tour group for a free lunch. I thought not.
We went to the Lidl and found a few items and good prices on some wine. Nearby was a lunch cafeteria so we stopped and had a nice dinner/lunch. Next door was a produce vendor where we got some green beans and a pile of roasted chestnuts. They are really good – nicely charcoaled a bit on one side, easy to peel, and seem to be a popular street food here.
We thought of trying to find the 431 bus which runs in a circle here: circulare interno. The “N” goes one way, and the “R” goes the other way. We finally found a place to buy the bus tickets and thought we were instructed to wait to the right for the bus. It never came. After about 30 minutes we headed back towards the flat where we had seen it on its route. It was getting late and when we realized most of the bus ride would be after sunset we opted to do it another day. We walked some more near the Ursino Castle behind us and then called it a day.
November 16, 2024
Slept in until after 8 today, for the first time on this trip. Thanks to the dark room, the comfy bed, and being fulling acclimated to this time zone.
It was bright and sunny and I noticed the snow capped Mt Etna was almost completely visible. A small layer of clouds was showing. We have this theory – the snow on a mountain housing a volcano must give off moist air that results in cloud formation. By midday, the top half of the mountain is not visible due to the clouds hovering there. The rest of the area can be under a cloudless sky.
We started on a guided walk I prepared using gpsmycity. We learned the famous fish market is just around the corner from us. It was lively and noisy. The price for mussels was very consistent – 5eu for a kg, which is about what we used to pay when we got 2 pounds on sale for $4.99. For the first time we saw whole sword fish. Or we saw the head and sword aimed at the sky while the vendors cut up the steaks. They were about 20eu/kg. There was tons of stuff… and we wandered off down the busy shopping street.
On the way out of a square there was a musician playing an inverted type bowl instrument. It had a very pretty sound. I had to google to find out that it was a sensory handpan. Thom gave him a couple of euros.
We got as far as the giant “other” market, that’s more of a flea market. Shoes, clothes, bags/wallets, socks, underwear, winter coats, electronics, phone cases and chargers. Everything one might want or need day to day. Vast and crowded.
After trying to see most of the market we stumbled onto the ancient roman coliseum. It seemed to be in the middle of the street. It was buried from an Etna eruption and only about 1/10 or it is visible today. What is visible was under a garden that was excavated in the 1700s. The balance of it is buried under the adjacent buildings. Adjacent to it was a small empty café that had pomegranates and oranges on display, a very common sight. We were able to get 2 glasses of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice for 4eu each. We had pomegranate juice in Turkey and think we are near enough in this part of the Mediterranean to maybe get some of that influence. Or maybe they just grow very easily here and this is the season.
We continued on our walk, passing some of the sights I had selected. We did not go into the ancient roman amphitheater. But the google aerial photos showed it off well. Seemed massive. As midafternoon approached, we checked our hosts recommendations for a fish restaurant and went to Fishiaria, 5 minutes from our flat. Luka was a terrific server!! Spoke great English and talked sports with Thom. Luka was born in Poland, lived in the US a little while and has been in Catania for a long time. He has a slight frame but professes to play rugby, not football (soccer). Apparently, there’s an American style football team here that’s very popular. Luka said he’s too small for that.
Luka recommended a wonderful starter comprised of small fish – anchovies and sardines, seasoned and wrapped into a bread crumb ball that’s then fried and served with a slight garnish of mushrooms and eggplant. Then we had fresh fish of the day (turned out to be amber jack) that was wonderfully cooked via the grill and then baked, and also some grilled sword fish.
We headed back to the flat to catch up on things and rest a bit. There was an amazing moon rise of the harvest moon that I was able to photograph. I was lucky with my timing as it quickly rose into the clouds.
