Kicking off from the last blog I saw Monreale and the church was lovely. It had a big Byzantine influence over it but since it was a Sunday and mass was taking place I decided not to stay in there too long and went around the corner to see what else there was to see. I paid €6 to check out this one place that Lonely Planet said was worth a look and wandered on in. You first go into a courtyard that is quite lovely and then you wander around that, then you wonder where else you are supposed to wander. Turns out the €6 was to see this courtyard and thats all there was to see. Felt a bit ripped off but oh well you win some and you lose some. I then wandered a bit around Monreale which was pretty then bought some postcards. For those of you who get those postcards you will soon find out I didnt go where I said I was going to go. Turns out unless you have a car and are travelling with someone to share the costs of a hotel then Sicily is not overly friendly for backpackers.
By this time I had had enough of Palermo and decided to go to Catania the next day so I hiked down to the bus station down the road and jumped on the first bus to Catania which left 5 minutes after I arrived so that worked out well. 2.5 hours later I was in Catania and trying to find the hostel I had booked myself in for. After a few false starts I made it and found it to be initially alright on first sight. After dumping my stuff I then got my clothes washed while the machine was free and hung it out to dry (they didnt have a dryer unfortunately) then after that took a deep breath and again took on the Italian postal system so i could post some pressies and tourist books I had bought back to Oz. Before heading off I got the front desk at the hostel to write out the scenario I wanted in Italian just in case I got a person who only spoke Italian (I did by the way). From here I bravely headed off into the unknown and after only one false start where I had to find another store that specifically boxes the parcel up for you I had it all under control and Italian post happily sent the parcel off for me - hopefully in the most economical way possible. Gawd I felt proud of myself!!!
When I got back to the hostel I met up with a few Canadian girls (hi to Lisa and Katie) who had just arrived and we all went out forraging for some food. When we got back to the hostel there was another Canadian girl (Jamie) who arrived as well. Yep so far it feels like I have been overrun with Canadians. This hostel had a deal where you got 'happy food' and 'happy drink' vouchers. the food voucher entitled you to either cous cous, anti pasto or paella with a small drink for €5 while the happy drink vouchers gave you 2 for 1 drinks from 5-10pm. Since you were allowed as many as you wanted you could go a bit nuts. My problem here though was sometime between my stay in Palermo and arrival in Catania my cold went from bad to worse to the point I got laringytis so speaking like Don Corleone from the Godfather while in Sicily was a bit ironic. The first night in Catania was great and all of us girls went out for dinner in the restaurant and had a few cocktails as well. we also had another girl from our room come along as well (Tori from London). It was a good night but all of us were a bit weary from travelling so we were in bed at a reasonable hour.
The next day I still wasnt feeling the best but had booked myself on a tour to go up to the top of Mt Etna. Its probably about now i should mention that Sicily is currently in the middle of an unseasonal coldsnap and since Mt Etna is 3350m above sea level it already had snow up there but with the cold snap going on it was BLIZZARD conditions up the top. Before reaching the top though our tour guide had stopped on the side of the road and we got out and went into this lave tube that had been created some 500 odd years ago with an eruption. It was GREAT doing this and we hiked the 200+ metres to the end in pitch black darkness with only torches guiding the way. When we got to the top of Mt Etna (where a ski resort is as well) we went straight into the shop on the side of the road. The wind was gusting so badly it would have probably been too dangerous to go out to the rim of the crater so we sat there and had some hot choclate (hot choccies in Italy are so thick you dont drink them you eat them). On the way back down the mountain we stopped just below the snow line and checked out a previous crater from a past eruption. It was still snowing and blowing a gale while we hiking around so by the time we got back into the land rover we were all frozen solid. After this we went straight back to the hostel and curled up under the blankets and tried to thaw out. I should say at this point I should have had a shower then because when I tried to later it was cold and with the cold I already had it just made it worse!!
That night we again had some happy food downstairs and a few more drinks but since by this stage I literally had no voice at all I went to bed early.
The next day Jamie, Nathan from Oz who we had spoken to the night before and I headed off for a day trip down to Syracuse to see some ruins, museum and the old city. The ruins were good but in true Italian style you dont get a map and half the ruins are closed for renovations so we made do and saw what we could (which were still good anyway). Nathan had Jamie and I laughing non-stop about what particular rooms in the ruins could be eg brothel, pimps room, kebab shop etc so having a map probably would have made the trip less memorable from that aspect. From here we headed off to the museum but on the way stopped off at this church built in the 80s (thats 1980s) for this statue of the Virgin Mary that is supposed to cry. The church would have to be one of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen and of course it was made of concrete (I have found Italians have a love affair with concrete or it could just be the mafia control the concrete business in Italy - I will leave that up to the readers to decide). From here we went to the museum in Sicily. If you read Lonely Planet they describe it as one of the best organised museums in Sicily. That may well be but if you want to see 10000 pieces of pottery shards well organised then this is the place for you. The three of us ended up treating it as a big joke which is the only way to get through it - keep this one off your list if you ever come to Syracuse. After the museum of pottery fragments we headed down to the old city and wandered around. The main cathederal was great because it was at one stage a roman temple so you can still see the columns which makes an interesting blend of the roman and catholic faiths. It was lovely in the old city but apart from wandering around there isnt a great deal to do so we then headed back to the bus stop and caught the bus back to Catania.
This was to be my last night so I made the most out of the happy drinks vouchers and had a few beers. At our table there was Canadians, Aussies, Americans and a German. Since all bar one of us were heading out the next day we all got into the beers and had a blast.
While I think of it the hostel itself was a bit of a bust. The beds squeaked if you so much as lifted your arm, the showers were not that great and the rooms were cold unless you had a heater. Then you add in a group of british uni students who wouldnt know how to be quiet at either 3am or 6am it wasnt an overly peaceful place to stay. There was also the issue that Jamie had bed bugs in her linen and literally was bitten from head to toe.
The next day Jamie and I headed off via the bus to Agrigento to see the Valley of the kings. We arrived there around lunch to the campground we were staying at to find it v.v.v. primitive and v.v.v. cold in the bungalow we were staying in (i.e. toilets and showers were in a block about 30m away from our bungalow). Origianlly we had booked in two nights but after one we both couldnt face it anymore since it was soooo cold during the night and checked out with plans to travel back to Palermo after seeing the ruins.
The ruins were great and since it was raining off and on all day we had the place pretty much to ourselves. All up we spent about four hours there wandering around checking out things. This time I had bought a map and only that I did did we find the majority of things in the ruins.
After picking up our bags from the campground we caught the local bus up to Agrigento since we were just outside of the city. Neither of us had had dinner the night before then brekkie or lunch that day except for some fruit we had brought and snacks we had left over so we were starving and were hoping to grab something in Agrigento before getting on the bus. I dont know when it will sink in but Italy shuts down in the middle of the day so unless you are in a big city like Rome you cant get anything done from about 1.30-4pm during the day. In the end we both had a sandwich then hopped on the bus to Palermo.
Got into Palermo OK but just as the bus pulled up in started to bucket down with rain and we had sent an email to one place recommended to us by Nathan hoping that we might be able to stay there but we hadnt been able to get to the internet to check that we had a confirmed booking. We arrived at their doorstep to find that they were fully booked and gawd love them they helped us find another place to stay which turned out to be the place I had previously stayed at in Palermo (not great but it will do for a night).
That brings me to today where I went down to the docks to see if I could catch a ferry back to Naples with the plan being to take a train to Genoa so I can see the Cinque Terre (everyone who I have spoken to thinks it is a definite highlight of Italy). Turns out that they have ferries directly to Genoa and one is leaving tonight. So far I have only booked one night in Genoa since it is so expensive then I plan to find another hostel closer to the Cinque Terre. The ferry leaves later on tonight (about 10pm I think) and gets in around 9pm in Genoa. I made sure the place I am staying at is v close to the docks since trying to do anything on a Sunday in Italy is difficult and wandering around alone and lost at night in a foreign city doesnt really appeal to me.
Anyway thats the latest from me. Hope everyone is well.
Ciao
Toni
By this time I had had enough of Palermo and decided to go to Catania the next day so I hiked down to the bus station down the road and jumped on the first bus to Catania which left 5 minutes after I arrived so that worked out well. 2.5 hours later I was in Catania and trying to find the hostel I had booked myself in for. After a few false starts I made it and found it to be initially alright on first sight. After dumping my stuff I then got my clothes washed while the machine was free and hung it out to dry (they didnt have a dryer unfortunately) then after that took a deep breath and again took on the Italian postal system so i could post some pressies and tourist books I had bought back to Oz. Before heading off I got the front desk at the hostel to write out the scenario I wanted in Italian just in case I got a person who only spoke Italian (I did by the way). From here I bravely headed off into the unknown and after only one false start where I had to find another store that specifically boxes the parcel up for you I had it all under control and Italian post happily sent the parcel off for me - hopefully in the most economical way possible. Gawd I felt proud of myself!!!
When I got back to the hostel I met up with a few Canadian girls (hi to Lisa and Katie) who had just arrived and we all went out forraging for some food. When we got back to the hostel there was another Canadian girl (Jamie) who arrived as well. Yep so far it feels like I have been overrun with Canadians. This hostel had a deal where you got 'happy food' and 'happy drink' vouchers. the food voucher entitled you to either cous cous, anti pasto or paella with a small drink for €5 while the happy drink vouchers gave you 2 for 1 drinks from 5-10pm. Since you were allowed as many as you wanted you could go a bit nuts. My problem here though was sometime between my stay in Palermo and arrival in Catania my cold went from bad to worse to the point I got laringytis so speaking like Don Corleone from the Godfather while in Sicily was a bit ironic. The first night in Catania was great and all of us girls went out for dinner in the restaurant and had a few cocktails as well. we also had another girl from our room come along as well (Tori from London). It was a good night but all of us were a bit weary from travelling so we were in bed at a reasonable hour.
The next day I still wasnt feeling the best but had booked myself on a tour to go up to the top of Mt Etna. Its probably about now i should mention that Sicily is currently in the middle of an unseasonal coldsnap and since Mt Etna is 3350m above sea level it already had snow up there but with the cold snap going on it was BLIZZARD conditions up the top. Before reaching the top though our tour guide had stopped on the side of the road and we got out and went into this lave tube that had been created some 500 odd years ago with an eruption. It was GREAT doing this and we hiked the 200+ metres to the end in pitch black darkness with only torches guiding the way. When we got to the top of Mt Etna (where a ski resort is as well) we went straight into the shop on the side of the road. The wind was gusting so badly it would have probably been too dangerous to go out to the rim of the crater so we sat there and had some hot choclate (hot choccies in Italy are so thick you dont drink them you eat them). On the way back down the mountain we stopped just below the snow line and checked out a previous crater from a past eruption. It was still snowing and blowing a gale while we hiking around so by the time we got back into the land rover we were all frozen solid. After this we went straight back to the hostel and curled up under the blankets and tried to thaw out. I should say at this point I should have had a shower then because when I tried to later it was cold and with the cold I already had it just made it worse!!
That night we again had some happy food downstairs and a few more drinks but since by this stage I literally had no voice at all I went to bed early.
The next day Jamie, Nathan from Oz who we had spoken to the night before and I headed off for a day trip down to Syracuse to see some ruins, museum and the old city. The ruins were good but in true Italian style you dont get a map and half the ruins are closed for renovations so we made do and saw what we could (which were still good anyway). Nathan had Jamie and I laughing non-stop about what particular rooms in the ruins could be eg brothel, pimps room, kebab shop etc so having a map probably would have made the trip less memorable from that aspect. From here we headed off to the museum but on the way stopped off at this church built in the 80s (thats 1980s) for this statue of the Virgin Mary that is supposed to cry. The church would have to be one of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen and of course it was made of concrete (I have found Italians have a love affair with concrete or it could just be the mafia control the concrete business in Italy - I will leave that up to the readers to decide). From here we went to the museum in Sicily. If you read Lonely Planet they describe it as one of the best organised museums in Sicily. That may well be but if you want to see 10000 pieces of pottery shards well organised then this is the place for you. The three of us ended up treating it as a big joke which is the only way to get through it - keep this one off your list if you ever come to Syracuse. After the museum of pottery fragments we headed down to the old city and wandered around. The main cathederal was great because it was at one stage a roman temple so you can still see the columns which makes an interesting blend of the roman and catholic faiths. It was lovely in the old city but apart from wandering around there isnt a great deal to do so we then headed back to the bus stop and caught the bus back to Catania.
This was to be my last night so I made the most out of the happy drinks vouchers and had a few beers. At our table there was Canadians, Aussies, Americans and a German. Since all bar one of us were heading out the next day we all got into the beers and had a blast.
While I think of it the hostel itself was a bit of a bust. The beds squeaked if you so much as lifted your arm, the showers were not that great and the rooms were cold unless you had a heater. Then you add in a group of british uni students who wouldnt know how to be quiet at either 3am or 6am it wasnt an overly peaceful place to stay. There was also the issue that Jamie had bed bugs in her linen and literally was bitten from head to toe.
The next day Jamie and I headed off via the bus to Agrigento to see the Valley of the kings. We arrived there around lunch to the campground we were staying at to find it v.v.v. primitive and v.v.v. cold in the bungalow we were staying in (i.e. toilets and showers were in a block about 30m away from our bungalow). Origianlly we had booked in two nights but after one we both couldnt face it anymore since it was soooo cold during the night and checked out with plans to travel back to Palermo after seeing the ruins.
The ruins were great and since it was raining off and on all day we had the place pretty much to ourselves. All up we spent about four hours there wandering around checking out things. This time I had bought a map and only that I did did we find the majority of things in the ruins.
After picking up our bags from the campground we caught the local bus up to Agrigento since we were just outside of the city. Neither of us had had dinner the night before then brekkie or lunch that day except for some fruit we had brought and snacks we had left over so we were starving and were hoping to grab something in Agrigento before getting on the bus. I dont know when it will sink in but Italy shuts down in the middle of the day so unless you are in a big city like Rome you cant get anything done from about 1.30-4pm during the day. In the end we both had a sandwich then hopped on the bus to Palermo.
Got into Palermo OK but just as the bus pulled up in started to bucket down with rain and we had sent an email to one place recommended to us by Nathan hoping that we might be able to stay there but we hadnt been able to get to the internet to check that we had a confirmed booking. We arrived at their doorstep to find that they were fully booked and gawd love them they helped us find another place to stay which turned out to be the place I had previously stayed at in Palermo (not great but it will do for a night).
That brings me to today where I went down to the docks to see if I could catch a ferry back to Naples with the plan being to take a train to Genoa so I can see the Cinque Terre (everyone who I have spoken to thinks it is a definite highlight of Italy). Turns out that they have ferries directly to Genoa and one is leaving tonight. So far I have only booked one night in Genoa since it is so expensive then I plan to find another hostel closer to the Cinque Terre. The ferry leaves later on tonight (about 10pm I think) and gets in around 9pm in Genoa. I made sure the place I am staying at is v close to the docks since trying to do anything on a Sunday in Italy is difficult and wandering around alone and lost at night in a foreign city doesnt really appeal to me.
Anyway thats the latest from me. Hope everyone is well.
Ciao
Toni
posted by Toni Black at 12:25 PM
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