Day Eight - Catania

I slept really well.  In fact, all I have seem to have done this holiday is sleep.  My AirBnB here in Catania is very basic. I did know this when I booked it.  Remember, I have stayed in some wild and wonderful places throughout my travels and whilst I have had worse experiences, this is very much what it said it is. Basic but convenient as the bus stop for the airport coach is literally outside of the door.  One of the reasons why I chose this property.  

I was awake very early this morning so put it to good use and made my way, with the help of Google maps, to the market.  Surprisingly, I found it straight away. It was massive and sold everything.  I really do like a market as it gives you a snapshot of the area where you are staying and this market did not disappoint.  One of the things I loved were the clothes stalls.  There were your usual stalls selling clothes then there were numerous stalls that just had clothes piled up high on tables.  I have seen this at East Street Market in Walworth when I was living at Elephant and Castle.  You would see women trawling through the clothes, picking and filtering out the items they were looking for.  This was the same.  I loved it.  I had a good root through the clothes.  I had my eye on a dress but when I looked at it I did not like the material. However, I did get myself the bargain of the decade (in my opinion at least).  I managed to find a pair of Chino type trousers for €2.  They fit a treat too. You can never have enough pairs of trousers.  I then moved to the food part of the market. This really did awaken your senses.  There were huge chunks of tuna being sold.  I forgot how big a tuna fish really is.  Stalls were selling seafood, fish, every vegetable and fruit you can imagine. I purchased two huge bunches of the largest radishes I have ever seen for €1.  It was so cheap an I can see why the shops near to my accommodation do not bother selling fruit and vegetables.  I spent ages just wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere.  There was a lot of laughing and shouting between the stall holders and the whole place had a good atmosphere about it.

I was looking at some clothes and this woman spoke to me Italian.  She was holding a pink skirt and a different pink top.  I didn't have a clue what she was saying to me then I thought I think she is asking me if these two go together.  They did not.  I went and found something in purple and suggested that and she was so pleased.  I love the fact that I was giving the Italians fashion advice, albeit in a local market.

Taken at 11.00am

By now the sun was coming up and I was getting thirsty.  I made my way back to the centre and went into a cafe and ordered a camomile tea and a bottle of water and sat and watched the world go by.  I loved doing this.  I just love listening to the women next door chatting away in Italian.  It was all very relaxing.  Fully hydrated I then went to book my trip for tomorrow.  That done and dusted it was time to go home for some lunch.  It all quietens down here around 1.30ish to around  5.00 so I thought I would do what the locals do. Nothing.  I had a lovely lunch and really enjoyed it. Then I received a phone call from the trip company I booked my excursion with to say I am on the only one booked for tomorrow so would l like to to to Taormina instead!  No was my reply. She said she will try to get me on the trip I booked to Siracusa and would call me back in an hour.  Sigh ......... I then did what I have done a lot of this holiday.  Fell asleep.

My lovely radishes 

       My accommodation.  Look at the steps again.  It was fun dragging my suitcase up those!

                     The view of the courtyard from my apartment.  The main road is just through the tunnel

No surprise to hear that I did not hear anything from the tour operators and then dragged my hot and sorry carcass up to their office only to be told that nope they could not operate the tour as I was the only one booked on it.  That alone I think is very telling.  I was not impressed as it gave me very little time to try to book something else.  Refunded my deposit and I tried two other tour operators to try to get me on the same trip but to no avail.  I really do not have much luck with these guided tours do I.  So here I am back in my accommodation trying to figure out what to do tomorrow.  It is far too hot to keep walking around.  Catania is very gritty and very dirty.  It makes the streets of London look spotless, and I don't say that easy.  I will have some food then try to figure out Plan B or is it C, D or even X?  I have lost count.  To be honest, I wish I was back in London now.  I have so much to do there and I also want to make some time to watch my beloved Glastonbury over the weekend.  How many years I have been saying that one.  That will change next year, mark my words and keep watching this space!

I had a lovely surprise this evening, my friend David FaceTimed me and we had a lovely chat. It was so kind of him to think of me.  After our call, I had a wander up to the main square just to see what was going on.  I have, you will be delighted to hear (I am be sarcastic) booked myself on a trip tomorrow.  I am going on an hop-on/hop-off trip to a place called Acitrezza, just up the coast.  I have been assured (we will see) that it is very pretty and you can sit on a public beach or pay for a sun lounger on a private beach and also you can, again apparently, get a boat over to a little island.  I have not done a boat trip this holiday.  Those of you who have followed me before know my history of boat trips both in this life and in my previous family life (my ex always took us all on a boat trip).  We will see.  The temperature tomorrow is forecast as 33 degrees (feeling like 36 degrees) so plenty of suncream and probably more prickly heat.  The good thing about prickly heat is as soon as I get back to London and my skin simmers down it will just disappear.

I went and had a camomile tea in a little cafe and the light was so lovely.  The swallows (or swifts, I still do not know the difference) were so graceful flying through the sky.  I could watch them for hours, it is so relaxing.  Then the usual pop into a shop to get a bottle of water and back to my accommodation to prepare my lunch for my little jaunt tomorrow.

As always, with my love.

Karen x