Sicilyyyyyyy! What an island full of contrasts. Just when something disappoints you a little, something else amazes you so much that you completely forget about the first thing. Why we choose Sicily, I don't know, that's something our trip planner, my fianc茅, decides. He is always in charge of choosing the destination, the plan, accommodation, reservations, sightseeing, beaches, I just go along, follow the plan and enjoy, ofc. Actually, I do know where the idea of Sicily came from, because last year all of us together, my fianc茅, my fianc茅's sister, my sister, her boyfriend and I, watched The Godfather for the first time, and now, the fact that we didn't even get close to the places where the movie was filmed in Sicily is another story. 馃榿 We had all kinds of things planned, but since we chose the hottest 9 days Sicily has had in the past 50 years, 5 days in Catania, 4 in Palermo (with one day in Cefal霉) = It couldn't have been better. 馃グ
The vacation actually started a day earlier, when my sister and her boyfriend came over to our place, so we could go through everything together and make sure we had packed everything, get a little sleep and leave for the airport early in the morning. Of course, there was no sleeping involved, we dozed off a little in the living room with the TV on and our legs up on the coffee table and at 3 in the morning, excited about the trip, we were eating gibanica and breaded meat that I had made that day. It's not for me to say, but it was absolutely delicious. (:
It took us around 40 minutes to get to Nikola Tesla Airport from where we live. We left the car at the parking lot, a shuttle van took us to the terminal, and then all those slightly boring but still interesting security checks began. It was my sister's and her boyfriend's first time flying, so for the two of us it was even more interesting to see their reactions to the airport, boarding, takeoff, landing... I remember the first time I flew, I cried tears of joy. 馃榿
Of course I was the butt of the joke, because everywhere we went, they would take an extra look at me and check me again. We all went through the regular scanner, but they pulled only me aside to scan me again with another one. Then we went through passport control using those new automatic gates, and the police officer stopped only me to check my documents one more time. They were joking that all airports have my photo in the suspicious persons category and being blonde, it's hard for me not to believe them and start freaking out that it's actually true, ahahha.
When we arrived in Palermo, we was in a hurry to catch the train so I only managed to take this one photo of the interesting little airplanes hanging from the airport ceiling.
Since the tickets have to be bought from a ticket machine, and there was a huge crowd, we barely made it in time for that train. First, there were some older ladies in front of us who weren't really getting the hang of the machine. The train departure time was getting closer, so I went to the doors with the suitcase and two backpacks to wait, looking towards the rest of the group the whole time to see if they would manage to get the tickets. They were typing away and then realized that the machine doesn't accept paper money, only coins and cards. A guy from neighboring Croatia behind them tapped his card, the tickets get printed, they gave him the cash, thank him a million times and run towards me and the train while the conductor is blowing the whistle for departure. Uhhhhh. If we had missed that one, we would have also missed the FlixBus from Palermo to Catania, which would have been an even bigger problem.
We got on the train, hungry, tired, thirsty, like we'd just run a marathon. 馃槵
The trains in Sicily, they are punctual, fast and comfortable. Flix was all of that too, except not exactly on time when it came to departure, so we got scared that maybe it had left early and we had missed it, but thankfully it hadn't. While we were waiting for it, we bought some water and snacks for the journey, and believe it or not, our very first purchase in Sicily was at a Mix Markt, Russian market, hihihi.
We arrived in Catania after about three hours, it was supposed to take less, but there was some roadwork. Oh, and the bus only stopped in Enna, so that was the only town we saw along the way. Sstrange-looking gentle little hills was all around us and everything was yellow, like sand dunes. Here and there some olives, and horses and cows that had escaped the sun and found some shade under the bridges by the road. In my head, classic pensioner questions: "Does anyone even live here?" and then I remember that it actually makes sense for roads to run between hills like that, away from cities, villages and settlements.
The main bus station in Catania. We got off, grabbed our luggage, the moment the humidity hit us... we didn't know where to turn. We were so hungry, tired, the apartment was right there, but still not close enough to walk with all the luggage, so we grabbed the first taxi from the station. An older man was willing to drive us, but he couldn't understand where the apartment was and didn't speak a word of English, so he called a younger colleague who drove us to the apartment, which was literally a two-minute walk from Porta Garibaldi.
A very kind host welcomed us, the apartment was nice, clean and spacious. We unpacked and were happy with everything except the temperature. Not so much the temperature itself, but that heavy air, it was really hard to breathe.
At night, the temperature didn't drop below 26 degrees Celsius at all during the first few days, while during the day it went up to 40, with a real feel of 50. So exhausted from the journey and the change in climate, we decided to just go grocery shopping at the nearby bakeries and a big Super Conveniente market and put some basic groceries in the fridge, their absolutely delicious cured meats, various cheeses, eggs, water, beer and of course Nutella. Ah yes, how to recognize a Serbian in a foreign country, look for yogurt on the shelves! xD We picked up some product between Greek yogurt and sour cream and it was gooood.
Aren't these Tomarchino drinks adorable?
I had to take a picture of this plate that perfectly meets my standards for a delicious, high-quality dinner. (:
Since men were drinking that night, we slept in a little longer in the morning, got a good rest after the journey, and then took it easy on the second day: breakfast at the apartment, coffee (we learned how to use the moka pot, and the night before we had been looking for a d啪ezva so we could make our homemade aka Turkish coffee, but noooo, there isn't a d啪ezva in Catania, not even at the Chinese shop).
When I say we took it easy getting ready for the beach, I mean we left the apartment around 14:30, called a taxi and went to Lido Azzuro, after first googling which beach was the best and closest one.
The beach was beautiful, the sea was beautiful, you swim, you look at the outline of Etna because that's basically all you can see through the smoke, and on the other side, every minute or two, planes take off from the nearby Catania airport. Sooooooo amazing!
Plus, because of Etna and the smoke that constantly covering the sun, it felt like the whole city had a sepia filter over it all the time, which in my opinion was really beautiful and gave the whole thing a cinematic feel. 馃グ
Since we arrived at the beach just a few minutes after 3, the entrance tickets were half price, so we took advantage of that to treat ourselves to the premium sunbeds on our first day. Nothing special, as we realized right away the next day when we got the standard package, but hey, we wanted to try that too. The package included a row closer to the sea, somewhat more comfortable mattresses, Wi-Fi and a waiter who brought us drinks so we didn't have to go to the bar ourselves.
Swimming, splashing around, drinking, sunbathing, cappuccino, beer, then swimming again, sunbathing, etc., for the next 4 hours until closing time at 7 pm.
For the way back, we caught a bus that took us really close to the apartment, took a shower, got ready and headed into the city, which was also our first encounter with the lovely and charming city center.
First, of course, we posed in front of Porta Garibaldi and then headed straight towards the center along that street. We were a little surprised by how quiet and peaceful everything looked, how poorly lit it was and how people were coming back from the city while we were only just heading there. And then, out of nowhere, from that silence, the first square appeared, a crowd of people, live music coming from the surrounding restaurants, beautiful buildings, breathtaking architecture, as if someone had pressed a button and instantly brought that beautiful picture to life right in front of us.
Some people get up and casually start dancing, two or three birthday celebrations were happening around the same time, everyone sings along and claps, such a cute atmosphere. Everything is so relaxed and cheerful, you immediately feel like you're part of one big happy group.
That evening I ordered tiramisu and an Aperol, the guys got beer, my sister got a mojito and they ordered two pasta dishes which the three of them shared. I think they were pasta Bolognese, don't take my word for it, I really know nothing about pasta and I don't even like it. 馃槅 I know, I know, you go to Italy and you don't like pasta, I consulted ChatGPT about everything. It told me Sicily is a great place for me when it comes to food because the focus isn't really on pasta at all, but on sweets, meat, offal, seafood, everything I loooove, YESSSS!
And that's it for our first two days in Sicily on this trip. We did a little sightseeing, although very little, and spent much more time relaxing, getting to know the city and the people. In the upcoming blogs, I'll tell you more about these sights when I write about the tour my fianc茅 and I did that morning, a tour that ended up being over 20,000 steps. :D
Until then, stay tuned. <3
[//]:# (!worldmappin 37.50278 lat 15.08467 long Catania, Sicily d3scr)