CATANIA
On our last day in Greece, we booked a room at the Avra Hotel, in Rafina. Although 17 Km from the Departures terminal, it is still considered an airport hotel, offering free shuttle service. With an early morning flight to Catania, Italy, the 6AM shuttle added some convenience to our travel.
The flight to Catania was mostly uneventful in our Olympic Air Dash 8-400 – read: propeller airplane over the Mediterranean – until we prepared for landing. As it was a stormy day in Sicily, our plane got tossed around for a bit as we descended toward land. There were a few collective gasps and the woman in the seat behind us crossed herself after the wheels touched down on to the runway. Scary!!
Catania is a gritty and dirty city with a beautiful baroque old centre – all of which is a UNESCO Heritage Site – where our AirBnB apartment was located. This made for easy walks to the Cathedral of Sant’Agata, near the Piazza del Duomo, with its Fontana dell’Elefante and Fontana dell’Amenano. A few streets south of us was the lively and very smelly Pescheria (fish market), where we had a delicious fresh seafood lunch at the Osteria Antica Marina – we opted to eat inside, away from the iced fish stalls. A little further ways in the neighbourho
od took us to the Benedictine Monastery of San Nicolo l’Arena – another UNESCO site. Now part of the University of Catania, the monastery hallways, cloisters, and gardens are free to explore.
On our last day in Catania, our friend Blair W. arrived at the apartment in his rental car for the second planned meet-up of our European journey. That evening we had dinner at La Pizzoleria and shared two pizzolas (pizzoli?); these are Sicilian pizzas with bottom and top thin crusts. They were too good to leave any of our four slices behind! Pair that with Sicilian red wine or a ‘big Birra Moretti’, and you have ‘YUM!’
PALERMO
The next day, we all packed up and drove out of Catania, heading to Palermo. Blair piloted through the narrow streets of Catania – remember: baroque city – onto the highway. Two hours and 30 minutes later, Blair was navigating the hazardous, no-markings-to-be-seen roads of Palermo. Who knew you could fit two cars and a motorcycle in one lane! Thanks for being such a great pilot, Blair! We made it safely to our ‘Palermo home for the week’ and parked the car nearby, assisted by a friendly Tunisian parking attendant. He not only looked after our car, he gave us tips and directions. And, this was a perfect time for us to practice French, as we would need it later in our journey.
With mostly stormy weather in the forecast, we took advantage of the sunny breaks to explore more sites. Here’s a fact we learned on this journey: Italy has the most UNESCO Heritage Sites in the world, and Sicily has the most in Italy. We made the best of that knowledge, by
visiting four of the seven sites within walking distance: Palermo Cathedral, Church of San Cataldo, Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, Palazzo dei Normanni. During our tour of the Cathedral, we were able to climb a narrow, stone, spiral staircase to the roof and walk along the rooftop on a designated walkway. The views were amazing! Even we, the vertigo-prone individuals, felt secure.
Later that week, we treated ourselves to a ‘fancy’ dinner at the Michelin restaurant A’ Cuncuma. We opted for the six-course tasting menu with wine pairing, of course. We were not disappointed. Each dish was as delicious and beautifully plated as the previous. So delicious, in fact, that we kept forgetting to take pictures for the blog post!
AGRIGENTO
Yes, it was time again for another ‘obligatory’ day trip. The day began at 7AM: a quick breakfast, then coffees to go, and we were on our way out of the city and off to the ancient Greek city of Agrigento to visit the Valley of the Temples (you guessed it, another UNESCO Heritage Site). The drive to
ok us over the Monti Sicani mountain range and down to the sea. We left the threatening clouds of Palermo for the sunny Valley of the Temples, a few hours later. As the largest archaeological site in the world, we walked the 1,300 hectares to view its impressive seven temples, all in varying degrees of preservation. After lunch on the site’s grounds, and a couple more temples visited, we headed back to Palermo for more packing. It was time to say good-bye to Sicily and to our friend, Blair. The next stop will require that French refresher.