Back to Catania.

 The return trip to Catania was much faster than the outbound trip. We had tickets for the 11:15 bus, however we tried to see if they would also work for the 10:45 but the driver first refused, then when I suggested I would just buy another pair of tickets, he reconsidered and let us on. 

      Arriving shortly after noon, we set off in search of lunch, Chinese food to be specific. With Google listing 3 we chose the one with the slightly better review! Il Mondo was a well worn but reasonably clean attempt at Cantonese fishes, or their Sicilian equivalent- Chinese “spaghetti” , fried rice and sizzling platter dishes seemed to take centre stage. We selected a seafood chow main, a squid and veg. hotplate and a plate of lightly fried vegetables in a light batter. Dishes were on the small side, but sufficient for lunch.

 Returning to our B&B we received our room assignment- same room. After a quick change we set out to join the throng wandering its way along Via Etna as we headed towards the seafood market area.  

  For whatever reason, their were literally thousands of people walking in the main street. Sunday was apparently the final day of a local music festival so perhaps it related to that. At the South end of the street is a massive square, at the centre of which we found the Elephant Statue which symbolizes the town.  To the east, the impressive and massive St Agatha Cathedral was closed for the afternoon so we wandered instead along the side of the Seafood Market (also closed on Sunday) where restaurants offered seafood in various forms, from stews to fried.

Having picked a place for dinner that night we returned up Etna street, encountering a large percussion band marching south,surrounded by a gang of enthusiastic supporters

We spent the next two days exploring the various sites in the Historic Centre. A partially exposed Roman Amphitheater was being worked on very slowly at a major intersection- presumably as the city planners decided what to demolish in the process. Somewhat further away a second amphitheater was almost fully exposed although the quality of the restoration probably indicated that it wasn’t of recent vintage. Like many in Turkey, the restorers paid little attention to replicating the acoustic qualities of the place, leaving the seats as flat blocks with no curvature under the seat.

An Italian only tour ( we got a discount) of the Theatre Bellini gave us a close up look at the opera house, the foyer of which was reminiscent of the one in Palermo, though somewhat smaller.

 The balance of our time was spent visiting the Duomo with it’s many paintings and tombs, along with several other of the churches in the area. 

A stop in at the central fish market showed a lifestyle not often seen in Canada, in all its gory glory. Everything from whole swordfish to squid was being dissected and distributed for consumption by locals and tourists alike.

 Our final meal was at Trattoria del Cavaliere where we watched with a degree of horror as most diners noshed their way through various cuts of horse meat and meatballs of dubious origin. 

We decided that seafood pasta and some pork and chicken would be a preferable alternative. 

Leaving Catania Wednesday morning we bussed it to the train station to await our train to our next stop- Siracusa and the island of Ortigia.