Trapped in Catania ( almost)
Just for a change I’ll review the day backwards. After a rather long day which started with a short tour of Palermo to see stuff we had mostly seen on our own on Friday and Saturday,
our bus pulled into Catania and I was feeling half past dead! Oops, wrong song.🙄
I had already book marked the location of our hotel and was tracking the driver’s route on my phone.
It was almost 8pm. An hour later than our planned arrival which was delayed due to various issues, a late departure from Cefalù, unplanned bathroom breaks and road con or should that be road DEstruction.
For some strange reason the driver veered off the most logical route and began to loop back into the old city. He eventually found himself at a T junction of a rather narrow street and found the bus was too big to make the required left hand turn. After attempting the manoeuvre for a good 15 minutes, pissing off several locals who had the option of moving their parked cars or having them crushed he decided the best option was to, instead go right. Which would have been Ok but for the fact it was a one way street. With cars pulling over or mounting the curb he eventually managed to return to the correct route, getting us to the hotel at 8:20 ( just in time🤦♂️ for our pre-arranged 8pm dinner.)
Luckily they managed to delay the meal while we checked in, grabbed our luggage, rushed to our rooms and returned downstairs for a dinner of pasta to start followed by black cod ( oven baked?) with green beans and roast potatoes.
As a bit of background, Catania is on the Eastern side of the island, about 140km as the crow flies, but more like 200 in reality. The road across the island took us through some pretty rugged and dry looking terrain with a few small towns and villages scattered here and there. Initially our route from Cefalù ( A coastal town 45 minutes from Palermo) took us on a route through an area of large cabbage ( or broccoli or broccoli) I’m not sure which exactly from a moving bus they all look the same and have the same fart inducing properties. Olive trees dotted the landscape in the more arid areas and could be seen in fairly large groves in parts that were less desolate.
The further east we travelled, the less hospitable the land appeared, with bare, and recently tilled fields rolling down from the rocky hills into the equally rocky valleys. Many abandoned stone farm houses and even entire communities of roofless and broken stone buildings could be seen. But with the light rapidly fading their was little to see by the time we approached our destination.
Backtracking to the earlier part of the day, we had set our alarms early enough to catch breakfast at 6;30 before setting our luggage out for 7:15 pickup.
We boarded our bus at 7:45, shocked to find our numbers had swelled to 24 people. The initial implication of the tour company was 12-16 for an average group. So we were a little disappointed that we needed a much larger bus.
The city tour took us to the Porta Nuova, (new city gate) Royal Palace, the Cathedral, the Four Corners, the Pretoria Fountain, the Chiesa (Church) di Santa Catarina, all of which we had seen on our own, with the exception of the Royal Palace.
Due to an oversight by the morning guide, a tourist was left at the hotel.So she wasted 20 minutes on the phone trying to organize a taxi. Delayed by this time waster we had barely a half hour to see the rather large palace, it’s beautiful Palatine Chapel, and the Royal Chambers.
Shoe clearly had a vast knowledge of the Chapel which she expounded at great length in Italian, Spanish and English, with the result that there was little time to see the Chambers and No time at all to see the Treasury and it’s collection. A further 30 minutes would have been sufficient but instead of allowing it she lead us to the Cathedral where Sunday Mass was being performed, restricting entry to a very small section of the church. She then told everyone to take a 20 minute break ( exactly the time need for the Palace. ( Ever get the urge to put someone in a headlock and twist their nostrils skyward?
I was that close🙄🙄!
After a walk to the main Restaurant street for lunch of pasta and swordfish, we bade her a tip-less farewell as our regular guide appeared to take us to Cefalu, The details of which I shall cover tomorrow as it is 1:30 am and our alarm is set for 6:30am tomorrow.
our bus pulled into Catania and I was feeling half past dead! Oops, wrong song.🙄
I had already book marked the location of our hotel and was tracking the driver’s route on my phone.
It was almost 8pm. An hour later than our planned arrival which was delayed due to various issues, a late departure from Cefalù, unplanned bathroom breaks and road con or should that be road DEstruction.
For some strange reason the driver veered off the most logical route and began to loop back into the old city. He eventually found himself at a T junction of a rather narrow street and found the bus was too big to make the required left hand turn. After attempting the manoeuvre for a good 15 minutes, pissing off several locals who had the option of moving their parked cars or having them crushed he decided the best option was to, instead go right. Which would have been Ok but for the fact it was a one way street. With cars pulling over or mounting the curb he eventually managed to return to the correct route, getting us to the hotel at 8:20 ( just in time🤦♂️ for our pre-arranged 8pm dinner.)
Luckily they managed to delay the meal while we checked in, grabbed our luggage, rushed to our rooms and returned downstairs for a dinner of pasta to start followed by black cod ( oven baked?) with green beans and roast potatoes.
As a bit of background, Catania is on the Eastern side of the island, about 140km as the crow flies, but more like 200 in reality. The road across the island took us through some pretty rugged and dry looking terrain with a few small towns and villages scattered here and there. Initially our route from Cefalù ( A coastal town 45 minutes from Palermo) took us on a route through an area of large cabbage ( or broccoli or broccoli) I’m not sure which exactly from a moving bus they all look the same and have the same fart inducing properties. Olive trees dotted the landscape in the more arid areas and could be seen in fairly large groves in parts that were less desolate.
The further east we travelled, the less hospitable the land appeared, with bare, and recently tilled fields rolling down from the rocky hills into the equally rocky valleys. Many abandoned stone farm houses and even entire communities of roofless and broken stone buildings could be seen. But with the light rapidly fading their was little to see by the time we approached our destination.
Backtracking to the earlier part of the day, we had set our alarms early enough to catch breakfast at 6;30 before setting our luggage out for 7:15 pickup.
We boarded our bus at 7:45, shocked to find our numbers had swelled to 24 people. The initial implication of the tour company was 12-16 for an average group. So we were a little disappointed that we needed a much larger bus.
The city tour took us to the Porta Nuova, (new city gate) Royal Palace, the Cathedral, the Four Corners, the Pretoria Fountain, the Chiesa (Church) di Santa Catarina, all of which we had seen on our own, with the exception of the Royal Palace.
Due to an oversight by the morning guide, a tourist was left at the hotel.So she wasted 20 minutes on the phone trying to organize a taxi. Delayed by this time waster we had barely a half hour to see the rather large palace, it’s beautiful Palatine Chapel, and the Royal Chambers.
Shoe clearly had a vast knowledge of the Chapel which she expounded at great length in Italian, Spanish and English, with the result that there was little time to see the Chambers and No time at all to see the Treasury and it’s collection. A further 30 minutes would have been sufficient but instead of allowing it she lead us to the Cathedral where Sunday Mass was being performed, restricting entry to a very small section of the church. She then told everyone to take a 20 minute break ( exactly the time need for the Palace. ( Ever get the urge to put someone in a headlock and twist their nostrils skyward?
I was that close🙄🙄!
After a walk to the main Restaurant street for lunch of pasta and swordfish, we bade her a tip-less farewell as our regular guide appeared to take us to Cefalu, The details of which I shall cover tomorrow as it is 1:30 am and our alarm is set for 6:30am tomorrow.
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