Time to say goodbye

March 10
Our time in Sicily is almost at an end.  It's March 10 and we leave in 5 days week on March 15th.  The past few days have been spent planning the northern leg of our Italian trip. By next Sunday, we will be on an 8-hour train ride from Syracuse to Salerno.  We plan to overnight in Salerno and then bus the Amalfi coast to Sorrento Herculaneum, Pompeii and finally to Naples All this in 4 days from the 15 to 19.  Then it’s another train trip to Florence where we meet Mara and Sadie. We spend10 days in Florence and another 10 days in Fano with side trips to Luca, Sienna and Venice. Will see if we can go to opera in Venice. The Nancy cousins will join us on April 2 in Fano.  All in all, the next 4-5 weeks will be a whirlwind of activity.  Should be fun!!!

Seems like we only arrived yesterday but we’ve already spent 6 weeks in Sicily. We have become quite familiar with our walking routes and shopping stops in Siracusa and have met some wonderful people. It will be difficult to say goodbye. Who knows if/when we will return.

We celebrated our 47^th anniversary on March 6. Only 3 more to go for 50!!!  Woohoo and can’t believe it. 
Didn’t do much that day since we were recovering from our trip to Taormina and Catania.  So we just took it easy and went for lunch at a restaurant (Osteria Del Ponte Vecchio) that was recommended. We ate too much.  Food was delicious as usual. We were supposed to go back to the restaurant but we ended up going to a clinic. Had an infection. Waited about an hour to see the doctor and left with prescription in hand. Didn't get charged anything. I asked about paying and the doctor just waved his hand. So free and easy here. It's amazing. Feeling so much better with the antibiotics.

Taormina

On March 3 we took the train to Taormina and spent the day and overnighted in a charming B&B. Taormina is built high on a hill overlooking the ocean with Etna in the background. 

We arrived in the morning so were able to visit the Botanical garden and Greek/Roman Theatre where you will find the best views of Mount Etna. 

Etna and Albert taken from Botanical Garden Taormina

 

Etna taken from Greco/Roman Theatre -  Taormina

 

Met a father and son at the restaurant literally steps from the B&B.  They're from Scotland and were great company.  We shared lots of laughs and  in the end traded contact information. We have met lots of people and have invited a few to come and visit us. It’ll be fun to see if they do.

Can’t seem to get enough of seeing that volcano which is still active. The weather was so fabulous the next morning (19C) that we had breakfast on the veranda. Luigi (our host) is a chef so breakfast was perfect, weather perfect. It’s obvious that spring is coming to Sicily. 

We wandered the hilly roads of Taormina for a bit trying to find our way to the bus stop and the bus to Catania. We met an elderly woman climbing a rather large hill and asked for directions. She was somewhat short of breath but so pleasant and between little gasps for air, pointed us in the right direction.

Catania

The bus ride from Taormina to Catania was our first bus ride in Sicily.  It was quite pleasant and we were able to enjoy views of Etna all the way from Taormina to Catania.  In Catania, we visited 2 museums (Cinema Museum and a Museum dedicated to landing of allies on Sicily in 1943).  The Cinema Museum was quite good but the other museum was a 5 stelle (5 star) museo.  It was so well done and organized.  We were flattened with how well put together the exhibits are. We sat in a bomb shelter and experienced what a bombing raid must have been like for the people of Catania. The following day we visited the inside of the Duomo, went on a bus tour around Catania and visited the enormous fish market in Catania – there was just about every kind of fish and mollusk imaginable being hawked

Fish market Catania

While in Catania we went back to a restaurant (Trattoria il Mare) we found on our last visit to Catania.  It was so good the last time, we had to return. We had dinner on our first day and lunch the following day. Guess we like this place.  Our lunch on day 2 was a 10 course marathon of seafood appetizers followed by spaghetti ai ricci (sea urchin) for me and risotto al mare for Albert.  So get this, we had bruschetta with smoked salmon, marinated shrimp, octopus, calamari, anchovies and swordfish, 3 types of fish fried in a variety of batters, fried baby sole and mullet, clams with tomatoes and olive oil, mussels and clams with white wine broth.  Eating our main course after this introduction wasn’t easy.  Here’s a photo of the father and son team who cooked up this feast for our last day in Catania.

Albert, Gaetano and Fabio

 

Albert finished his meal with a fiery drink called Fuoco del Vulcano.  A concoction unique to Sicily in honour of Mount Etna.  Believe me, it was fiery!!!