Sunny Sicily

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Geo: 37.503, 15.0881

We were so glad to wake up and find it was sunny in Sicily after the rain we had in Turkey. We had thought about hiring a taxi and going to Syracuse which has some ancient Roman ruins but in the end we caught the shuttle bus and went into Catania town. There are only so many Roman ruins you can see and after Ephesus none of them are as good.Catania has previously been destroyed by earthquake and volcanic eruption and was mostly rebuilt in the Baroque era. It has loads of lovely old baroque buildings but as the bad economic climate has set in, a lot of the buildings were suffering from neglect which is a real pity. We walked through the town via the usual Duomo and down to the Fish Market which is an absolute must to see. Lots and lots of traders are there shouting out about their fish and there is every kind to buy. Adjacent to this there is also a meat,vegetable and cheese market also worth seeing. In order to finish off the sight seeing we caught the tourist train for 5 euros which trundled us around and pointed out all the places of interest. It gave us a lot of info and is well worth doing. So many of the buildings are built with lava stone so appear dark or black. Even the cathedral had pillars made of the stuff which I have never seen before. The down side to the town is that there are many beggars who all apear to be Romanian. The last time we had been in Sicily with Helen and Wildy, I remember it for it's good wine and seafood. Therefore instead of charging back to the ship for lunch we decided to go to a little fish restaurant right next to the fish market. The white wine was excellent and we ordered too much seafood but it was all really good and made a great ending to our time in Catania.
Back on board we came second in the Team Trivia. The final is tomorrow so I do not know whether we shall end up getting higher than our current 4th place. So far Stefan and I have amassed 108 points which have to be spent tomorrow on whatever rubbish they have on board to exchange them for. A lot of work for a few fridge magnets and pens but it has been great fun.

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