Catania

Sunday, May 19th

The end-of-ride hotel stop was not in the best part of town, but it was easy to get to and close to the camp ground where all of the gear had been set up. My room wasn't the best in the hotel either, with a view of the main road an petrol station, and not enough room for a double bed, a bike box and some luggage. We decided we would upgrade for the next two nights.

After breakfast, we took a taxi into town with David, one of the riders who was leaving late that Sunday evening. We were dropped in one of the central squares, right next to some Greek (or could they be Roman) ruins. Catania has a long history of occupation and some interesting archeological sites as a result.

Walking down the main street we came across a fun run which was about to start. As usual with fun runs, there was entertainment, and these girls were doing some of the local dances.

Right near the start of the fun run, in an almost ideal position to watch the race, were some of our other cycling buddies, just setting up with a cappuchino or two. They included Team Tartan, Team Tandem and Big Col (Carl), who had become an honorary member of Team Tartan towards the end of the ride.

The race was about to start. It looked like a 10km event around a 4km course. There were only a few hundred runners though, not the 50,000 you would see at a City-to-Surf in Sydney.

Meanwhile, the performances continued. Despite the number of people in and around the event, it was quite easy to move about and see what was going on.

 

After the first lap (about 4km into the run) the stronger runners came through.

And the amateurs followed on. The race started at 11:0am, and it was into the 20's, and given that it was a around a street circuit I reckon many of these people were suffering from the heat. Perhaps starting early on a Sunday morning isn't done in Sicily?

This particular corner is right near the cathedral, and outside the cathedral in another nice square were some marching girls performing to American marching band music!

The square is famous for it's statue of an elephant which apparently is the symbol and protector of Catania.

Back behind the square is a market, and this was just wrapping up. We could have still bought some snails, but decided on some fruit instead.

Meanwhile, the slower runners (no pun intended) were still plodding along - how familiar this is to me.

Just to the side of this street in the "Tax Office", an imposing building with some Jacarandas in full bloom out the front.

And back at the start of the race, a girl sells more varieties of licorice than I have ever seen. There didn't seem to be many buyers though...

The race over, we went exploring, and because TD had been here before, he was able to show us the sites. This one is a bizarre collection of Roman, Greek, Medieval and who knows what other styles all piled on top of each other in what appears to be the wrong order. These days it's part of a monastery.

It wasn't late enough for the locals to have lunch yet, but they were clearly getting prepared - the streets were quite, people were buying cakes to take to their friends and family, and the restaurants were setting up for a 2:00pm or 3:00pm rush. It reminded me a lot of Spain on a Sunday afternoon in summer.

We picked a nice looking place, in a nice looking square, but which turned out to have a young waitress with too much attitude for us. The food and wine was acceptable, however,

We had time to kill, and rather than take a taxi back to the hotel, we decided to walk the 5 or 6km. We had considered this on the way in, and had met some cyclists who had done it themselves. It wasn't always the prettiest walk, but there were beaches and places to get closer to the sea than the railway line. The locals obviously enjoyed the black sand and volcanic rock as a place to suntan on a Sunday afternoon.

And eventually, we came around the corner and saw our hotel in the distance.

And while we were away, the hotel moved out luggage into our new rooms, this time with a view in the opposite direction. The Tonys decided that since they were paying, they might as well have some privacy and a good night sleep - they had individual rooms for a couple of night before partners arrive, and boating commences.

 

After a short nap, and as the sun set, we adjourned to our local bar, with a nice view of the port:

And had a few more Moretti beers (grande of course).

We liked this place enough to stay on for pizzas, red wine, and gelati. Perhaps the presence of an Irish girls hockey team was another incentive (no photos!)