After one last hearty breakfast on Paros, we drove off to the very small airport, where one building acted as baggage claim, car rental, check-in, waiting area, and security checkpoint. Nevertheless, there were screens showing the three flights of the day and indicated that they would be leaving from Gate 1, in case that was not apparent. It was a short hop over to Athens, where this time we were dumped off into the main terminal area, but had to exit security anyway because we had to gate check a bag. The Athens airport is inconsistent. Newark is still worse, but Athens is quite silly. We had plenty of time, however, to collect the bag, check-in for our next flight, go through security, have lunch, gate-check the bag again, and board Olympic Airways to Catania, Sicily.
Just under two hours later, we touched down in Catania, where a school group of Italian teenagers clapped for the landing. I had bet Nicole with 95% odds that they would applaud the landing and I was not surprised. The initial feeling in Catania was a bit stressed. It was very loud in baggage claim, very busy, and the airport looked pretty beat. Locating the rental car was another challenge as it was tucked away down an alley. (We did not even rent from one of the sketchy companies that were charging only 3 euro/day. We are renting from Sixt [they charge 12 euro/day]). After getting our VW Up!, we set out on the highway north to Taormina.
The drivers here are a little wild. They do this thing where they’re about to pass, but then hesitate . . .for let’s say 2km, where they’re just driving down the middle of the road, straddling the median before slowly drifting into the other lane just before they would hit a car. Additionally, there are two speeds that people drive. Pedal down to the floor or coasting in neutral. So, I found myself in the unique position of passing a BMW, but then needing to really jerk back into the right lane to avoid being run down by someone doing 200kph in a Fiat Panda. After exiting the highway, going up some switchbacks (where there was traffic and a tour bus that took a wide turn and almost hit me), going up a circular parking garage, lugging our suitcases half a mile on cobblestone streets through throngs of tour groups, we finally found our apartment for the night. Nicole found us a nice restaurant outside, off the Main Street, where we could get away from the noise and chaos of the Corso Umberto (the main pedestrian street). We had red-and-white checkerboard tablecloths. I had some sort of spicy noodle pasta with breadcrumbs and sun-dried tomatoes. Nicole had pasta alla norma with eggplant. The portions were quite sizable. We were given “free” bruschetta and amaretto as well. After all of the day’s events, we each had a beer.
We spent the rest of the evening roaming the streets, and it seems that perhaps most of the tour groups go away at night. There were still plenty of people out on the streets, but not in the numbers we had seen earlier. We looked out from the Piazza IX Aprile, where we could see a very bright moon reflecting off the sea below. We went back to the apartment, where I promptly gave in to sleep.
The following morning, we grabbed a couple muffins across the street and walked to the Teatro Antico, or the old Greek theater (later updated by the Romans, and again updated as a concert venue by the Italians). While it is not the largest amphitheater in Sicily, it is arguably the most scenic. It is situated high in the hills overlooking the coast. While there were numerous tour groups making the rounds, the theater was big enough that people weren’t getting bunched up in the same spots. Tourists in this town are quite annoying, though. They are very clearly American and have been pretty good at making themselves known, whether it’s talking loudly, complaining to local employees, or walking four-across through the crowded streets and stopping short. Americans are almost as bad as an Italian school group.
For the rest of the day, we attempted to avoid people. We went down the backstreets and alleys and found a quiet place for pizza for lunch. Later on we got some gelato and basically ran away from the main street just to have some peace. It gets a little out of control in the afternoon.
Just under two hours later, we touched down in Catania, where a school group of Italian teenagers clapped for the landing. I had bet Nicole with 95% odds that they would applaud the landing and I was not surprised. The initial feeling in Catania was a bit stressed. It was very loud in baggage claim, very busy, and the airport looked pretty beat. Locating the rental car was another challenge as it was tucked away down an alley. (We did not even rent from one of the sketchy companies that were charging only 3 euro/day. We are renting from Sixt [they charge 12 euro/day]). After getting our VW Up!, we set out on the highway north to Taormina.
The drivers here are a little wild. They do this thing where they’re about to pass, but then hesitate . . .for let’s say 2km, where they’re just driving down the middle of the road, straddling the median before slowly drifting into the other lane just before they would hit a car. Additionally, there are two speeds that people drive. Pedal down to the floor or coasting in neutral. So, I found myself in the unique position of passing a BMW, but then needing to really jerk back into the right lane to avoid being run down by someone doing 200kph in a Fiat Panda. After exiting the highway, going up some switchbacks (where there was traffic and a tour bus that took a wide turn and almost hit me), going up a circular parking garage, lugging our suitcases half a mile on cobblestone streets through throngs of tour groups, we finally found our apartment for the night. Nicole found us a nice restaurant outside, off the Main Street, where we could get away from the noise and chaos of the Corso Umberto (the main pedestrian street). We had red-and-white checkerboard tablecloths. I had some sort of spicy noodle pasta with breadcrumbs and sun-dried tomatoes. Nicole had pasta alla norma with eggplant. The portions were quite sizable. We were given “free” bruschetta and amaretto as well. After all of the day’s events, we each had a beer.
We spent the rest of the evening roaming the streets, and it seems that perhaps most of the tour groups go away at night. There were still plenty of people out on the streets, but not in the numbers we had seen earlier. We looked out from the Piazza IX Aprile, where we could see a very bright moon reflecting off the sea below. We went back to the apartment, where I promptly gave in to sleep.
The following morning, we grabbed a couple muffins across the street and walked to the Teatro Antico, or the old Greek theater (later updated by the Romans, and again updated as a concert venue by the Italians). While it is not the largest amphitheater in Sicily, it is arguably the most scenic. It is situated high in the hills overlooking the coast. While there were numerous tour groups making the rounds, the theater was big enough that people weren’t getting bunched up in the same spots. Tourists in this town are quite annoying, though. They are very clearly American and have been pretty good at making themselves known, whether it’s talking loudly, complaining to local employees, or walking four-across through the crowded streets and stopping short. Americans are almost as bad as an Italian school group.
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