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!



Because of the short train ride, we were able to spend nearly three full days in Catania. The weather was warm and perfect for wandering around the city. We haven't had rain since we arrived on Sicily, which has been fantastic! Our B&B, Picone B&B, was a bit of a trek from the train station, which wasn't super fun in the hot sun, but we handled it well. The owner, Michele Picone, met us at the door and cheerfully showed us around the place. He provided us with a map of the city then proceeded to circle an area with "many pubs" and an area that we should avoid. I was reassured when he told us he is a local police officer (that made for a safe and sound night's sleep!). After dropping off our bags and thanking Michele, we hit the town.

Ian and I decided to stop by all the piazzas on the map (there weren't very many), and then pick our favorite and enjoy an afternoon drink. The first piazza was hosting a huge outdoor market, and there were no cafes; the second piazza wasn't really big enough to be considered a piazza; and the third piazza was just a huge intersection for the several big streets, and no cafes in sight. We headed south down to the piazza in the center of the area Michele said had many pubs. With map in hand, we chose the shortest route. That route happened to run directly through a street lined with brothels! After passing two men negotiating with a woman whose breasts were hanging out of her shirt more than they were actually in her shirt, we became suspicious. As we continued walking, we saw several scantily-clad women sitting on chairs in front of their homes smoking cigarettes and waiting. It was just like in old movies: women wearing nothing more than a bra with a cigarette dangling from their lips as they lean out the window to showcase their "goods". Needless to say, we were out of place. Luckily, a few streets over we found the piazza we were looking for and laughed off the awkward situation with a nice, cold Italian beer. Oh Italy! Full of surprises!

Saturday morning we rode the Circumetnea, which is a little train that circles the base of Mt. Etna in a three-hour swoop. Mt. Etna is Europe's largest and most active volcano. We weren't able to take a tour to the top to see the lava, but riding by the lava fields gave us a pretty good idea of what this volcano is capable of. We wanted to hike to the top, but the volcano is covered in snow and we didn't bring appropriate hiking gear for a five hour trek in the snow. Nevertheless, we enjoyed riding the Circumetnea, which offered beautiful views of both Mt. Etna and the surrounding countryside.



As it was our last Saturday in Italy, we just knew we had to participate in the local passegiatta. And lucky for us Catania's passegiatta is massive! Thousands of people strolled along Via Etnea linked arm-in-arm enjoying the beautiful night air. We had a blast strolling along the street feeling oh-so Italian. Ian and I had made a reservation for a local fish restaurant, but our reservation wasn't until 8:00, so we had a lot of time to kill (remember, passegiatta usually happens around 6:00). After walking from one end of Via Etnea to the other, we decided to indulge in a before dinner drink and chose a bar along Via Etnea - a prime spot for people watching! As we casually sipped our drinks, we were privy to the fantastic antics of the locals: young boys racing one another down the street; teenage girls wearing astronomically tight and uncomfortable-looking clothes and prancing around in front of the teenage boys; young men out walking puppies in a blatant attempt to attract women; groups of old men standing around to chew the fat; and confused and bewildered tourists trying to blend in. It was a completely delightful way to spend a few hours on our last Saturday in Italy!


And dinner was such a treat! We enjoyed an amazing meal at a locally renowned fish restaurant called Antica Osteria Marina. The restaurant is in the heart of the fish market and boasts a new menu everyday featuring the catch of the day. The picture above showcases our fantastic antipasti: a feast of mixed fresh fish dishes. I think the antipasti was my favorite part of the meal! We sampled two pasta dishes, a spaghetti con neonata di pesche (pasta with minced baby fish) and a pasta with eggplant and swordfish (it was simply delicious!). We split a second course of white fish, we think it was something like sea bass. And for dessert, we were served a homemade lemon sorbet with wild strawberries. We were finally able to enjoy a fantastic Italian feast! Ian was in heaven. He called it our last supper, which is quite a fitting way to describe the meal.

Our last full day in Italy was Sunday. We wanted to experience Sunday as the Italians do (minus the long church service). Thus, we began our morning with a casual breakfast of cafe espresso and brioche in a cafe down the street. After our little meal, we strolled down to the outdoor market and meandered through the packs of people and the vendors yelling out product names and prices like it was an auction. We purchased some local delights, and then made our way down to Piazza Duomo.

Once again, Via Etnea was filled with people coming and going to church or breakfast. Piazza Duomo was swimming with couples and families and vendors selling woven palm trees in honor of Palm Sunday. As is tradition, we sat at a local bar, sipped on an apperitivo, and munched on little bar snacks. Sundays are slow in Italia. People saunter down the streets and sit around chatting for hours. That is, until lunch time when everyone retreats home to indulge in a meal that often lasts all afternoon. While Ian and I didn't have a house to go to for lunch (and most businesses and restaurants were closed), we did stop by a cafe for some local fagiatti (small, calzone-type brioches stuffed with spinach and ricotta, ham and cheese, etc.) and enjoyed a little picnic in the park. We spent a slow afternoon relaxing and relishing our last day in Italy.


Tomorrow morning we begin our journey back home. We have another long train ride: nine-and-a-half hours from Catania to Roma. At least we have countryside views the whole way! We'll spend the night in Rome, and then make our way to the airport where we'll (hopefully) get on a flight to Washington, D.C. We fly standby, so please keep your fingers crossed that we make all our flights! It's hard to believe that our 90-day adventure has nearly come to an end. Leaving Italy is bittersweet: we sad to say goodbye, but at the same time we're looking forward to returning home to family, friends, and familiarity.