Sicily: Day 4

At our B & B there are two other couples, one from the west coast of France  and the other( a middle aged man and his eldery aunt) from Switzerland. We have been exchanging tales of our days at breakfast. They both have cars. This morning the French couple offered to drive us to the Catania City centre, thus saved a €20 taxi trip.

The City centre's main feature is the Cathedral of Saint Agata. Saint Agata was a martyr from the 3rd century and now is the patron saint of Catania. The square outside the cathedral has a monument of an black elephant supporting a small obelisk  and the black elephant is the symbol of Catania.

In one corner of the square there is a beautiful marble fountain and behind that is the local fish market.  As we were leaving the square  we were convinced to catch the local tourist train (more a tractor and two trailers) that goes through the city  and you get to see the highlights in a 40 minute trip.  We don't  normally  do this but 3 factors contributed to our decision: cheap; leaving immediately; and it was very warm.  It was a good decision because we wouldn't have seen many of the sights. This included the Belini Theatre, many churches, a Roman Colosseum, a Roman amphiteatre and some impressive parks and statues.    
                           
After the train ride, we walked around the city   and explored more of these sights up close. There was also a market and we had a few drinks and a bite to eat before heading back to our apartment.

The rest of the afternoon  was spent swimming and sunbaking. For dinner our host Lucia cooked us a meal that consisted of 3 courses. The French couple Marie and Thierry joined us for the meal. Marie spoke very good English  but Thierry very little. But a few wines later we were all on the same page!

For first course Andy had  a pasta meat dish and Kristin had pasta with seafood. For mains,  Andy  had a beef dish and Kristin had a seafood platter. Ice-cream/sorbet  was for desserts.

We invited Thierry and Marie up to our balcony for a nightcap (whisky, lemoncello) and at 1 am we had to kick them out as we were getting up at 7am to catch a train to Amalfi.

I'm  writing this on the train and both Kristin and Andy a feeling a bit worse for wear. The train is currently on a ferry crossing over to the mainland of Italy.

Cheers,

A & K.