HAPPY in Sicilia or Italia

Lately I have been thinking of Palermo and how much I enjoyed traveling in Sicily. Then I saw this on YouTube, the song Happy in Catania that city which is built on the slope of Mount Etna an active volcano which dominates the whole area. Catania is an old city, founded by Greek settlers from the Island of Naxos 2800 years ago. The symbol of the City is the elephant named Liotru. I remember what a beautiful city it was, the wines and the food, what I would call new Sicilian cuisine just great. Well worth visiting and then how about Siracusa.

Mount Etna and Catania

  

Siracusa another Sicilian City founded by Greek settlers from Corinth 2700 years ago. Cicero use to say that it was the most beautiful of Greek cities. The Temple of Athena built 2400 years ago is today the Cathedral of the city. Also in Siracusa is the famous Greek theatre built 2300 years ago where every summer a festival of ancient Greek plays take place.

The ancient Greek amphitheatre of Siracusa seats 20,000 spectators.

Siracusa Piazza Maggiore

Gratuitous memories of Rome

I subscribe to a web site on FB called Roma Sparita, you can see daily several photos of the Eternal City from very early photos 1870 to 1980, historical paintings and monuments.  All of it brings back lots of memories for me of our time in Italy. What I enjoy about this site is that I recognize the places they show even if it is a very old photo, because in Rome nothing ever changes that much.

It will be two years now that we left Rome and I have returned just 12 months ago for a visit of two weeks. I wish I could return soon but that is not really possible. We speak frequently with our friends in Rome and follow what is going on in Museum and at musical venues like the Opera, http://www.operaroma.it and the Symphony, http://www.santacecilia.it. The Italian Auto Club still sends me their bulletin, http://www.aci.it and so does the Canadian Club of Rome, http://canadianclubofrome.blogspot.it

So here are some photos of the Città,

 Rome Centre, Piazza Venezia, view taken from the Altar of the Nation Monument

Rome general view at mid-day. Can you name of the church domes in the photo?

 Piazza Navona painting 1838, it has not changed at all

 Top of the Spanish Steps with the French Church Trinita Dei Monti, looking towards the Medici Palace and the Villa Borghese gardens. A spot I know well. Again it has not changed much.

But I also have been thinking of going back to Palermo and Sicily in general, such a beautiful and captivating place.

Catania a city under an active volcano, Mount Etna, spectacular to say the least.

Catania to Napoli

We left Sicily at 19:40 on the good ship Partenone, not many many people on board, but the ship is a lot cleaner than the one we took coming down to Sicily, in fact it even smells clean. The company TTT lines has 2 ships and they simply do the route Napoli, Catania and back.

 Sailing out of Catania into the Ionian Sea and turning left to sail up to the straits of Messina

Lots of tourists, mostly Germans and a few Italians, and some truck drivers. Dinner was a very simple affair, 2 pastas, 2 mystery meats, some salad, bread and water, good but simple. It also seems that in Italy, on ferries dinner is served early and ends early, usually by 20:45 it is all done. Then everyone goes to the lounge for coffee and a drink.

 Catania with Mount Etna in the background barely visible hidden by clouds, only the slope is visible.

As we left the port of Catania we made a sharp left turn into the wind, we are having squalls tonight up the coast of Sicily and the boat is experiencing some rolling, despite the fact that it weighs 7000 tons. We were also able to get a dramatic view of Mount Etna though is was partilly hidden by low clouds it still occupies a good part of the immediate horizon, that is how big it is and how it dwarfs the city of Catania. We are not far off the coast, you can see clearly the lights of each little town as we go up to Messina and in fact you can also see the cars on the highway. Messina is the narrowest point with the toe of the Italian boot, to cross to Reggio Calabria is only 20 minutes at that point. After Messina we are back into open sea all the way up to Napoli. Hopefully the sea will be calmer after that point.

In all the trip takes 12 hours. On arrival in Napoli we will take the highway up to Rome and should be in Rome in under 3 hours time tops.

 Vesuvius in the early morning as we enter the port of Napoli.