Dinner at L'Iska, Gelato at Levante and charming Catania by night
When you get back home after spending the day at the huge Catania beach (which btw stretches for 18 km 😍), it's only natural to quickly get ready to head into the city because you are veeeery hungry. But there's no fear of being late, because dinner time doesn't even start until 9 PM and rush hour lasts almost until 11 PM. Of course, you can eat even later, as some places have kitchens open until 2 or 3 in the morning.
On the way to the city center, I once again managed to take a few photos of some buildings on the main street and the main square. They shine so beautifully, not too brightly, just enough to make those gorgeous facades stand out. Oh, and these super interesting cactuses in the planters along the street. Btw, we kept seeing those everywhere, in supermarkets, at the market, wherever we went on foot, and somehow never got around to trying them. But thanks to Lidl for having all sorts of things, we bought them a few days ago in Serbia. Prickly pears, Indian figs.... such a fun fruit. Me likey. 😍
I was also drawn to one of these painted storefront covers, a storefront cage, whatever, its really beautiful.
A painted Etna that never sleeps, cacti, some beautiful old ornaments on the facade, peeling paint from a newer facade, some kind of box, I assume with installations inside, covered with a bunch of stickers and beer bottle on top of it. A perfect little table right on the sidewalk, you could't imagine better! :D
That's exactly how we experienced this old but incredibly interesting city, just like this photo.
In one of the streets leading to the fish market, we sat down at a restaurant called L'iska, with a cute fish logo. My sister wanted to have grilled seafood, I still hadn't decided what I wanted, and the men in our group were craving a classic, Capricciosa pizza, so this restaurant was a great option for us since we all wanted completely different dishes.
I decided to go with what you see on my plate, even though I'm not really a pasta lover, and I surprised myself with my choice. It was absolutely delicious! Ravioli filled with lobster in some kind of green zucchini sauce, and who knows what else, plus almonds and crispy bacon on top. Whaaaaat? That opened up some new culinary horizons for me. Fish and meat, seafood and bacon, what great combinations! We should really eat like this more often, don't you agree? 😍
Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that I also had a glass of white wine with it because, well, I had learned beforehand that white wine is always a safe choice with fish and seafood. It was nice, I'm not really a connoisseur who can go into details, all alcohol tastes good to me. xD
Dinning there in that restaurant was made even more special by a man with a guitar and a cowboy hat who was masterfully performing some of Leonard Cohen's greatest hits. 😍
That's how we also came across this Greek Orthodox church, the Church of Saint Leo.
Then we walked through some smaller streets where people were packing up and slowly closing their stalls. There was a lot of hand-painted pottery, books, jewelry... but we arrived just before closing time because it was already well past midnight.
So we decided to look for a good gelateria, and the good friend internet led us to Levante.
Guess who played it safe and who decided to get creative, hihi, of course I was the second one.
Why would I get chocolate, hazelnut, or strawberry when I can mix a scoop of mango and a scoop of fig, ahahahaha. 😁
But seriously, the gelato was absolutely amazing. Even though they were laughing at my combination, my sister's boyfriend said he would bet that no one in their life had ever walked into Levante and said, “I'll have a scoop of mango and a scoop of fig.” But once he tried it, he admitted that it was actually really good.
The gelato is top-notch, so every flavor is good, there's no way you can go wrong.
On the way back to the apartment, as we walked along feeling full, happy, but pretty exhausted after such a day, we noticed posters everywhere for some kind of trance party at Porta Garibaldi. More about that in the next blog, coming soon. <3
Thank you for reading, a hug to everyone!
And if you would like to read about our adventures in Sicily from the very beginning, here are the previous blogs:
@bibana/sicilyyyyyyy-our-first-two-days@bibana/fish-arancini-an-elephant-and@bibana/cathedral-of-saint-agatha-ancient
[//]:# (!worldmappin 37.50174 lat 15.08635 long Catania, Sicily d3scr)