I figured one day is enough for this large city that many people fly into. And I was right. The historical center has lots of baroque churches and buildings (I'm sensing a theme, Sicily). But there's lots of trash everywhere and the rest of the city is pretty ugly. While waiting for a bus, I saw a local finish his lunch and then just drop his huge wrapper on the ground. I haven't seen that anywhere in years.
After checking in our room, we walked to the nearby Allied Invasion Museum. It was huge and fascinating. D Day in Normandy gets all the press, but the US, British, and Canadians had a practice run here in July, 1943 when they invaded and pushed out the Fascist Italians and Nazis. They later crossed the straits of Messina to work their way up Italy.
We made it to the center in time to see the famous fish market before it closed. It was boisterous and there's plenty of seafood restaurants in that area. We snacked on our first Arancini before we tried the seafood. It's a fried, stuffed rice ball and it was amazing.
For dinner later we went to a popular street stall for fried mixed seafood in a cone and some fried bacalao (cod). I guess it was deep fry day, our first fried food of the trip. Most everything else on the trip has been slathered with delicious fresh olive oil.
Then we joined the masses for the passeggiata, or evening stroll. Via Etnea is the place for that. And wow, I almost forgot that we got our first glimpse of Mt. Etna! It's cloudy today, but we got a peek. This is pistachio central, so grabbing a pistachio gelato for the paseggiata was a must.
I scored a nice aparthotel room across from the bus and train station for the convenience. Those can be iffy, but this one is very nice and includes breakfast. And I used one of our credit card's travel site which reimburses the first $100 on hotel expenses per year, so it's basically free.
Tomorrow morning, we take a train to Taormina, a resort style town up the coast a bit. Hopefully we'll l get better views of Etna.
ItalyGiardino Pacini37°30’4” N 15°5’20” E
ItalyGiardino Pacini37°30’4” N 15°5’20” E