Another warm and sticky night but no thunderstorms and we woke to see blue sky with small white clouds. With a bit of luck the wind, the first that we have had for a few days, will bring fresher, clearer weather.
I wrote the paragraph above too early as it clouded over, started to rain and thunder rumbled as soon as I had put the computer down. The remainder of the day was overcast for most of the time and there was the occasional light shower.
We caught the 09:40 bus up into Acireale and then the 10:30 bus to Catania, a major town one hour's slow bus ride south. The lady in the Tourist Information Office yesterday went into huge (unnecessary) detail about the buses throughout the day, whether they ran on Saturdays, Sundays, Festival Days, or on school days only and told us exactly where we could catch each one (some varied during the day). Unfortunately she neglected to tell us that there was another bus run by a different operator that only took 25 minutes to get to Catania. We discovered this only after we had bought tickets for the slower bus and watched the faster bus drive past us!
The journey was interesting with the first part especially spent in very narrow street often with only two or three inches between the bus and parked cars. On four separate occasions cars parked in ridiculous positions blocked the bus and we had to wait until a driver appeared to move it. Once a car parked opposite a junction prevented the bus from turning left. Coincidently a Municipal Police car arrived at the same moment and took control, one policeman blowing hid whistle to attract the attention of the car owner. He had his notebook out and I was sure that the driver was going to be booked. However, after about five minutes, the driver appeared, said a few words to the policeman, got in the car and drove off without any form of punishment being issued. The Italians are amazingly tolerant of bad driving and parking. When we were waiting for the bus in Acireale I saw a ship's captain in full uniform and it made me wonder whether the Italians steer and moor their ships like they drive and park their cars. If they do, reminder me not to take a cruise with an Italian shipping line! Pedestrian crossings are a great place to park cars; pavements are blocked by parked scooters; stop signs on the road are totally ignored; cars just edge forward onto major roads until there isn't enough room to get around them; cars often overshoot red traffic lights or anticipate them changing so that the traffic with priority has to swerve around them; cars continue driving down the road even when it is obvious that the traffic ahead is stopped and they will block the road to on-coming traffic. I could go on and on and on. I must say that Italian driving is bad but Sicilian driving is absolutely terrible.
Arriving at 11:30 and leaving at 16:00 gave us enough time to whiz around the town visiting the Duomo (cathedral), a couple of impressive churches, the Roman theatre and odeon as well as touring the centre admiring the architecture. We also managed to fit in a four course meal and twenty-minute walks to and from the bus station. We thought that we did quite well.
Much of Catania's architecture is in that very elaborate Baroque style and this is echoed throughout much of Sicily. There is a good reason for this as Baroque was the fashion at the time of the huge earthquake and volcanic eruption that destroyed much of the island in 1693. Acireale was covered by a lava flow from Etna and the city rebuilt over the old one. Catania was destroyed by the earthquake and the town redesigned and built in the modern style. Everywhere in churches you find the year 1693 mentioned and it is surprising how quickly the churches in particular are rebuilt. Thanks from those who were saved or protection from future disasters? Who knows?
One further thought for the day. Are we going to be the only people to spend three weeks in Sicily without seeing Mount Etna? Low cloud is still obscuring the view and we are not convinced that it actually exists!
Photos: The Roman Theatre at Catania. Some houses incorporate the theatre in their fabric but up to the 1950's there were houses occupying the whole of the theatre and set out in tell-tale semi-circular pattern.
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