We formally checked out of our bed and breakfast but left our luggage upstairs before heading out into the town again to see a few more things and do some shopping.
The first place we headed was the mercato dei pescatori (the market of the fishermen) where we were met with a dazzling array of products ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables to giant fish to delicate pastries. Here are some pictures that show the potpourri that we were met with (sorry, no smelling allowed. Back away from your computer screen!).
Everything was as fresh as you could possibly imagine it and, like yesterday, we enjoyed a welcome break from the restaurant scene by getting some “raw materials” as I call them and putting them together as we sat and enjoyed the vibrant culture of the town.
We then wandered into a few small churches and made it to a section of the University of Catania where we popped into the gate to take a look. Besides this beautiful piazza, it didn’t appear to have many people around, so they must have been studying.
We then found the ruins of the Roman Amphitheater in the center of the busy part of town and decided to have a look. They are about 20 feet below the level of the street but retaining walls and a staircase allowed it to remain separate from the traffic but accessible to the public. The ruins themselves were not as well protected/preserved as those of the Roman Forum in Rome or the Coliseum but, surprisingly, this small section of ruins was actually part of the second largest Roman Amphitheater as it was only surpassed by the Coliseum.
We finally stopped to grab another bite to eat and then headed back to the B&B, picked up our backpacks, and hoofed it to the train station. Our train was delayed by about 30 minutes and 3 out of the 4 ticket men accidentally let us on the wrong type of train (it was faster than the ticket we paid for) but it ended up being all right. As we waved goodbye to Catania, we realized that Sicily was actually a great place to visit. I personally could definitely see myself back here sampling more food and maybe even doing some fishing.
Our train took us to the Northeast tip of Sicily (Messina) where we had to jump on a connection west to Palermo. As you can see in these pictures, the mainland of Italy was actually very close across the water from Messina and it was cool to see the mountains roll by in the distance.
Once we got to Palermo (3.5 hours from Messina) we were confronted with a bit of trouble. We asked the bus station if they could point us to a bus that would take us from the train station to at least closer to our hostel. We were ready to buy a taxi ride but the train station is about 19 km from the hostel so we didn’t want to take it right from there. Anyhow, the bus driver told us there was no bus that late (9PM) and that we should talk to his friend with the taxi. He walked us over and the taxi driver told us the fare would be 50 euros. That was the top of what we wanted to pay and we certainly didn’t want to walk so we agreed and got to the hostel safe and sound. The issues, however, were that 1, there is a bus stop less than 90 seconds walk from the hostel, so we could have gotten a bus, and 2 the normal taxi fare for that distance would be about 30 to 35 euros. So basically we were fleeced out of about 15 euros which I’m sure the bus driver and the taxi driver split.
No harm came to Brian or I but now we know that 1. we should always check the bus schedules ourselves and 2. always ask for a receipt from the taxi driver. When we did get into the hostel everything was fairly simple and we got into our room with no problem. We had a private room with a set of bunk beds, a desk, and a shared bathroom with the other private room next door. The wifi was free and the sheets were clean so neither of us had any problems and went right off to sleep.
That’s all for today but tomorrow we hope to get out and do some swimming before we head on over to the airport for our flight to Spain!
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