The Last Stop on our 90 Day Adventure: Catania

Catania is only an hour away from Siracusa by train, but it is a surprisingly different city! Most noticeably, Catania is a significantly bigger city than Siracusa. More widely recognized as a commercial and industrial city, Catania sees few tourists, but that's not to say that the city isn't tourist-friendly. Most people see Catania as a brief stop on their way to Mt. Etna or Palermo, but Ian and I just loved Catania and are so glad we chose this city as our last stop in Italy!

Sicily Stop #3: Siracusa and Ortygia Island

I have a confession to make: I may like French cuisine more than Italian food. *gasp* I know, I know. Please don't judge me. After three months of eating Italian food, Ian and I are pretty tired of pizza, pasta, bread, and Italian dolchi (desserts). I mean, Italian food is literally all that is served in Italy (duh: I know)! In each new city, we scrounge the streets for new cuisine to no avail. But I was finally able to locate a legitimate and decent-looking French restaurant in our third city in Sicily: Siracusa. My mouth did a little happy dance as I enjoyed my fantastic duck soaked in honey and butter over a bed of gorgeous lettuce. Oh man was it good! Perhaps it was just because I'm getting sick of Italian food, or perhaps it was because the chef and waiters were actually French, but my meal at Le Vin de L'Assassin bistrot was probably the best dining experience and culinary delight I have had in Italy thus far. Please don't tell the Italians...

Sicily Stop #2: Agrigento

I must admit that I have fallen in love with Sicilians. Every single person we have come in contact with on the island of Sicily has been kind, gracious, understanding, and helpful. Despite the fact that more often than not we are not speaking the same language somehow we are able to communicate and understand one another. And, from what I can understand, Sicilians want nothing more than to ensure we know where we’re going, how to get there, and any historical information they can pass along about the beauty and importance of whatever we happen to be visiting. I find it incredibly endearing.

An Introduction to Sicily: Palermo

Throughout our tour of Italy, I have been continually impressed with Italy's public transportation system. Buses and trains run regularly to almost any city in Italy and are, for the most part, very fairly priced. I was even more impressed with our transport to Sicily. Because Sicily is an island just off the coast of mainland Italy, I figured transportation would be complicated. Not so! We were able to take a train the entire way! Let me explain.

Beautiful Salerno and Ancient Paestum

The city of Salerno is so close to Vietri sul Mare that Ian and I probably could have walked there faster than it took for us to wait for the bus and ride into Salerno. But, Rosa, the owner of Il Melograno in Raito, insisted on accompanying us all the way from Raito to Salerno. She walked us right up to the front entrance of our B&B, Salerno Centro, and introduced us to the owner's parents. Talk about service!