Catania

On Tuesday, June 20^th, the tour headed for Catania, but got caught in a huge traffic jam.  Virginia had us play a tour trivia game, to pass the time.  Our front-of-the-bus team, for which Mary joy came up with the name Viaggio Magnifico, didn’t get any questions wrong.  The back-of-the-bus team lived down to its name: I Vergognosi (the Shameful), but the moderator and judge (Virginia and Giorgio) brought them back into the game by giving them extra points for easy questions.  It all came down to one final question:  When (century or year) was the Sicilian Vespers uprising?  Our team quickly came up with the right answer: thirteenth century, I think 1282.  1282 it was!

When we finally got to Catania, we visited the Museo Storico dello Sbarco, which tells the story of the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943.

Then we went to the center of town.  Catania, unlike the other Sicilian cities we had seen, is remarkably uniform in architectural style, because it was flattened by an earthquake in 1693 and rebuilt thereafter.  We went to the market, but our traffic problems had delayed us too long, so we only saw them cleaning up after the famous fish market.  We did have a nice snack—paper cones full of fried seafood and vegetables—at a counter called Scirocco, across from the market.

Our room in the Liberty Hotel had a nameplate on the door, reading “Magnificenza.”  This was not false advertising!  It was a gorgeous Art Nouveau suite, our most luxurious accommodation on the trip.

We all walked together down the hill fifteen minutes to a restaurant in a side street.  I don’t remember its name.  There we had the tour’s farewell dinner (again, very good).  After the meal and back at the hotel, we said goodbye to the other people on the tour, a group that we had found very congenial. A number of them would be leaving very early the next morning, while Mary Joy and I would have a flight late the next afternoon.

Our first Rick Steves tour had been a very pleasant experience.  The guides were knowledgeable, helpful and skilled.  The itinerary was interesting.  The people, in spite of having a variety of backgrounds and personalities, were very good company.  The food was fantastic.  While we like Overseas Adventure Travel very much, it was nice not to have OAT’s nickle-and-diming—no optional excursions at a price, no tips, wine at meals was included.  We will probably take another Rick Steves tour sometime.