Catania, Sicily Day 1

 Finally our first trip abroad since February 2020.  It seems so long ago.  

I am out of practice for travel - actually we both are.  All of our flights - from ABQ to Chicago, Chicago to Istanbul, Istanbul to Catania went smoothly.  It was only when we left the Catania airport to find out hotel for the night that we discovered a difference in expectation between us and the place we ended up at.  Michael thought he had booked a hotel.  Our driver took us to an apartment building in a very seedy part of town.  Our driver called the number on our reservation and indeed we exactly where we were supposed to be.  The apartment was on the second floor and is very large.  But there is only the 1 bedroom instead of two we expected.  After about 15 minutes of arguing Michael realized he had made a mistake and we took the next 30 minutes filling out paperwork, discovering there was an additional 30 Euro due because it was after 5pm, another 8 Euro for city tourist tax and 200 Euro for a security deposit.  Apparently neither of us had read the fine print!

This is the view out our front window.  The small speck of a dome way in the back is the most important cathedral in Catania.

Important ruins - another view out our window.  Not sure what it is as the sign for it has been vandalized.

Most of the other views from our apartment window look like the view below.  Also did not know that the trains ran right through the area behind that wall.  We are also right in the flight path of the Catania airport which is very close.

Now for the advantages of our location.  We are very close to the fish/everything market.  

We are also quite close to the Piazza Duomo and the Cathedral.  

                                                                     Cathedral

Elephant Fountain

                                                             Palazzo San Giulano

On our walk around the city we came upon this church with a large crowd gathering around.  The crowd was dressed very formally.  There was a band in the background and 4-5 professional photographers.

Then a white car drove up, and the photographers swarmed the car - taking pictures through all the windows.  The bride emerged.

As the bride and groom started up the steps to the church, the band struck up and played loudly.  Everyone in the crowd of strangers  watching this from the street had out their phones or cameras.  

Lunch is served later in Italy and it was around 11:30 - so we stopped for some gelato.  It was very good.  We decided to find the water front.  Here are some street scenes along the way.

We made it to the water front - but not much to see.  There was a yacht club, some commercial fishing boats and and large container ships.  

On our way back to our apartment we passed through this building.  It looked like they were setting up for an exhibit.  They kindly let us pass through - even moving one of the shelving units that was blocking out way.

We passed through another area with several large paintings on buildings.  I decided that the above is a jelly fish.  What do you think?

My laundry picture - See on the top apartment balcony?  Actually I just liked the arrangement of the buildings.

And then back through the fish market.  It is almost 1:30 and we find that the restaurants are filling up fast.  We stopped at this place which was quite good.  Michael had pasta and I got grilled sea bass with a salad.  If you notice the umbrellas above - in the past we have seen the same scene, only the umbrellas are bright and vibrant in the spring.  Now it is the end of tourist season and they all look the worst for wear!

After lunch we dragged ourselves back to our apartment for naps - jet lag has caught up with us.