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Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Saturday, 14 April. This was the day for our optional tour of Catania and the Cyclops Coast. At 8:15 the shuttles took us to our bus, and we headed south on the autostrada. We exited at Acireale, a pretty town set on a terrace of black volcanic rock, and then drove south along the coast. We stopped at the fishing village of Acitrezza, noted for the "Rocks of the Cyclops" (the faraglioni) which, legend has it, the Cyclops (Polyphemus) hurled at the fleeing Ulysses who had blinded him.
As we drove into the City of Catania, a car squeezed in front of the bus at a merge, scraping the side of his Alfa Romeo in the process. He insisted on blocking our bus (and most other traffic) in the middle of the road for 20 minutes until the police came. Then we were tied up another 25 minutes before the police let Enzo take us into the city center. Catania was founded by the original Sicilians (the Siculi), but was colonized by Greeks from Naxos (Sicily) in 729 B.C. Like the rest of Sicily, it was taken over by the Romans in 263 A.D. Lying so close to Mt. Etna, it has been damaged or destroyed by lava flows and earthquakes several times. The bus dropped us at the Piazza Duomo. We toured St. Agatha's Cathedral (the only cathedral in Sicily not named after Mary). Although incorporating the remains of an 11th century Norman building, the cathedral was completely rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake, as were all the buildings around the Piazza. The composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) is buried in the cathedral, as are a few kings and queens.
A short block from the cathedral is the fish market. (There were also fruits and vegetables.) This was probably the most crowded open air market we'd ever seen. It was impossible for our group to stay together. Fortunately, we'd already been given instruction about where and when to meet after some free time. We browsed some of the shops until noon when we reassembled and walked to the bus.
We got back to the hotel in Taormina at 1:40 and went right to the restaurant. There had been a misunderstanding between Oliviero and the restaurant, though. They were not expecting us for lunch. They quickly whipped up a beautiful salad and a hearty pasta, followed by ice cream for dessert. We were glad to have a somewhat lighter lunch than usual. We read and relaxed until 6:30 when we had a lecture on "Sicily Today," dealing mostly with politics and the mafia. (That's one subject, not two.) At 7:30 we had dinner in the hotel. And this time they expected us. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
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