Today was a big travelling day. Kicking off with a 6am wake-up, we were aboard the 6.40am bus from Ceret to Perpignan. There was time to grab a pastry for breakfast before climbing aboard the Flixbus from Perpignan to Barcelona. Two hours later we rolled into Estacio del Nord bus station. We know this area well, and also the route to walk to Place de Catalunya, where we pick up the bus to the airport. After three bus trips plus two walks, we arrived at Barcelona airport around midday, in good time for our Vueling flight to Sicily at 2.40pm. It had been quite a long day already!
The flight was pretty smooth, although the seating was pretty tight, as you'd expect on a budget plane. Travelling with just a cabin bag each has been so easy. They weigh only 4kg. Maybe we'll try and travel this way more often, though it wouldn't be possible when you need winter clothes. We both dozed quite a bit on the two hour flight to Catania airport. Because of a strike of French air traffic controllers (again) the pilot had to take a slightly different and longer flight path than usual, but he made up for the extra time and late departure, meaning we were only 10 minutes late arriving. With a quick sprint off the plane and through the terminal, we caught the 5.10pm bus from Catania Airport to Syracuse.
We were wearing trousers for the first time in a month, and the weather was fine and not overly hot when we arrived. However, the temperatures are still predicted to be in the high 20s for the next week. The sky was unfortunately was very hazy, probably because there has been no rain in months, so we could barely make out the lower outline of Mt Etna, lying just on the outer edge of Catania. The bus route southwards bordered the coast to Syracuse, going past a surprising number of heavy industrial plants and even an oil refinery.
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| Barren landscape on the coast between Catania and Syracuse |
The sun set just after 6pm, about half an hour before we arrived in Syracuse. It was very nice to be able to stretch our legs and walk the final 20 minutes to our accommodation. Our bags are the Ryanair/Vueling minimum i.e. 25x20x40cm, and thus very small and light - only 4kg each. We had booked a small B&B on the island of Ortigia. It was immediately obvious the buildings on the island are completely different to the far more modern ones on the mainland in Syracuse. The latter area was severely bombed during the war. In complete contrast, the island of Ortigia is a labyrinth of very old dwellings and commercial enterprises intertwined.
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| Walking across the bridge between Syracuse and Ortigia island |
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| The Temple of Apollo at the entrance to Ortigia island, built by the Greeks in 565BC |
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| Typical alleyway |
We ate dinner at the restaurant immediately next door to our accommodation. It came highly recommended by our host, presumably they are mates of his. A short walk afterwards confirmed a wealth of small eateries and interesting shops in the narrow streets of the neighbourhood. We're looking forward to exploring tomorrow but are ready for a good sleep right now. Before that though, John was very keen to try a cannolo. He has very sweet memories of eating one when we were in Palermo in 2011.
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| A window display of canolo cones, with the ends often dipped in chocolate or pistachio |
