Sicily 2019 - Catania

Our early morning foray onto the local bus, with our baggage this time, to the station in Palermo and our journey from the bus station to Catania was easy and comfortable.

We were the first to arrive at the deserted bus station as 'we' (the royal we) had been too sceptical and, much to Gary's chagrin, had allowed too much time because of too many "what-ifs" going through the royal we's head!!!(Bless him...as a travelling partner he has so much patience!) Anyway it was a nice morning so we took a seat in the shade at the spot we knew the bus would come in. Over the next hour we realised that Sicilians have another gene fault apart from the smoking one.....they have missed out on the queuing gene!!!!!
So the bus pulls in, the driver jumps out, locks the doors and proceeds to walk away.....this of course is a covert instruction to locals to start forming a "sort of" queue. As we waited and watched more and more people arrived .....most pushing their bags and themselves to the front of the"sort of" queue, some coming in from the sides, some seruptiously and some just blatant. It was obvious now we needed to formulate a plan...after all we were here waaaay before anyone else....weren't we? Lol.

5minutes before departure time the driver strolls up and opens the door and our plan is put into action. Gary takes the bags to the coach garage and I walk to the front of the queue unimpeded. I turn around and find the people who arrived just after us had followed suit - he to the garage and she beside me.....we give each other a knowing conspiratorial, aren't we just clever wink!!! Then something happens which we actually experienced quite a lot in Sicily....the driver totally ignores me at the head of the queue and takes the ticket of a local man to our right who gleefully jumps in front of me, hops onto the bus and takes the front seat. I calmly ask the driver why he did that and he smilingly indicates he does not understand......but hey we are in Sicily, people have been entombed in concrete motorway pillars for less than making an enquiry into misogynistic actions....so, once again, we toe the line!!!!

We got a good seat anyway where no-one could knock your teeth out by reclining the seat in front - we just had to hold our noses each time the on board toilet door opened and closed!!! Having a woman across the aisle who was OCD in cleanliness was a great distraction during the 5 hour bus ride.....thank heavens for small mercies!

Arriving at Catania bus station we had pre arranged a pick up by car to take us to our hotel. Luca had been emailing and whatsapping us letting us know where he would be waiting....next to a pink wall...with a photo of his car. His attention to detail was amazing but we just couldn't find him. We traversed the entire outside perimeter of the bus station twice but by every pink wall there was no Luca. After several more calls and swapped photos he decided to come to us which worked great!!!

Our hotel, hotel Politi, was 'different.' We had ordered a suite just for the 3 nights - it had 3 verandahs which was nice and a very efficient air con. The shower was excellent but to sit on the toilet one needed to be prepared to become very intimate with the corner of the wall beside you! There was a washing machine in the bathroom but reception had a special key to unlock it.....for a price of course!!! All crockery and cooking stuff had to be asked for and provided in a plastic box from reception....once again no wine glasses but 1 tumbler!!! The suite was huge but furnished spartenly and the bed mattress was thin and hard. The lift was so slow...I think I recall being told it was the only one in Catania...you could have a nanna nap between floors! We didn't actually have breakfast in the dining room but we did enjoy a couple of wines and snacks during their Happy hour.....it was a little sad we were the only ones there though.
The really nice guy on reception seemed to do everything for everybody and was always right there....he worked hard keeping everywhere spotless, preparing food, washing floors and tables, serving drinks......you name it, he did it!

Regardless of all of the above and, once again, the hotel was well positioned in the Old Town of Catania......close to Roman ruins....just around the corner the rediscovered remains of an amphitheatre which had been completely housed over over the centuries....and of course Mount Aetna which is currently active.

Luca was our man here, comfy car, great local knowledge and time-free to take us there.
Having only 3 nights here we focused on Aetna and spent a whole day there. Catania has so much history related to Aetna and her activity. Catania has been wiped out and rebuilt several times as have many outlying villages and townships. Because Aetna is always moderately active....continuously smoking therefore releasing pressure....locals are unafraid to rebuild close to Aetna because they know if another major eruption occurs they would have plenty of warning to leave the area. Also Catania and the surrounding townships are all built in a grid fashion to allow its many inhabitants generous escape routes. Therefore new villages arise out of the lava without too many problems or worries....I am however talking many years ago now.

We took the cable car to the supposed top of Mount Aetna which was expensive but included a free lunch and had a good wander around. It is not safe to go to the actual crater that is currently smoking and you can go higher but only with a guide. Several young people were doing this but we were happy with how close we got.
Spying two abandoned old craters just off the carpark we decided to walk around one of them.....solidified lava all around us with distant new green showing in many areas. Understandably it takes over 2 centuries for any form of regeneration to take place!!!! Pathways formed by the lava from this particular eruption were still evident....in one place forking either side of a green forest which still stood proud and tall. I had never realised that solidified lava flows are huge - so tall too!!!!

Walking round this crater edge which consisted mainly of black ash and pumice like rocks what did we spy? Ladybirds!!!!! Unbelievable....many ladybirds!!!! We were quite high in altitude too with very little foliage around us but obviously the ladybirds are able to survive in those barren conditions.
Also fascinating to see were the different layers of lava that had accumulated over the many centuries, each layer covered in it's own layer of ash but it was quite difficult walking on that fine ash and rocky lava. It was a great day though spent solely with Aetna. Arriving back to Politi Hotel we realised our shoes, our clothes and our faces were moderately black.
The following day we just strolled around Catania discovering more Roman ruins, unexpected churches and a stone gateway which it is said was built overnight to get around some councils rules!!!!!! Amazing workmanship. We stumbled across the most amazing market that seemed to go on forever and ate another brioche crammed with gelato.

On our last day in Catania Luca picked us up and took us to the airport to catch our plane to Athens.
And so another story begins!!!!

Enjoy. X