Saturday 29 August 2009

Rotterdam - Brussel - Catania - Taormina: 8.5 hrs travel, 2.5 hrs flight

We leave home at 8.30am and take a taxi to Rotterdam Central Station. Our train to  Brussels arrives in time and departs promptly at 8.55am. We change trains at  Brussel Noord and take the Airport Express, that takes us to the National Airport of Belgium in merely 15 minutes. We drop off our luggage and head for terminal A. That turns out to be quite a slog underground on rolling floor. We proceed through the security check. It all goes smoothly. We could easily have left home an hour later, ignoring the warnings on Brussels Airlines' website. In terminal  A we have a hot lunch and do some shopping before we board the Brussels Airlines aircraft at 1.05pm. After 2.5 uur we arrive in Catania. It is around 31°C/88°F and almost clear skies. From the air we could already see the giant volcano Etna. Covered with some snow and spiffing some fumes from its cone. Our bags take some time to arrive on the belt in the baggage claim area, so I leave Erik to wait for them and go ahead to arrange our rental car. At Hertz we get a Ford Focus Station. With help of our satnav we drive into direction of  Messina and leave the motorway after about 40 minutes at Taormina. In Taormina we stop at the city gate Porta Catania and I walk ahead to the B&B, Villa Floresta. I check out t the room and go back to the car. We drive into the city towards the B&B. This is only allowed for residents, but nobody is stopping us. We off load our bags, driving back to the parking house near iPorta Catania is not that easy. In the end we find our way back. We park in the gigantic building, that start at the base of the mountain and reaches up to the city gate at the summit. We take a drink on the square in front of the Duomo. After a rest and a shower we go for another drink in the garden of bar Shaluppe (trendy bar, on intimate square). Meanwhile the passegiata, the daily parade of locals and tourists along the main shopping streets has begun and everyone seems to be parading up and down the  Corso Vittorio Emmanuele. We buy a carry on bag for our trip to the island of Ustica the day after tomorrow. We have an allowance of only 10kg and we forgot to bring a smaller bag for this trip. After that we have dinner at Osteria Siciliana. My food is fine, but  Erik is less thrilled by his lamb, which seems to be more bone than meat. 

Weather: some cloud, 31°C/88°F

Sunday 30 August 2009

 

There is no breakfast in our B&B, so we try our luck outside on a square near the Porta Catania. It is toasted sandwiches with ham and cheese with fresh orange juice. We walk along the main shopping street, Corso Vittorio Emmanuele towards the Teatro Greco, located at the very end of the street. The theatre is originally Greek from the 3rd century BC, but what is left today is mainly Roman from the 1st century AD. It has a fine location on a promontory. Behind the scene spectators can see mount Etna in the background. Workmen are busy clearing the stage after a show that was held here last night. The theatre is regularly used for music performances. It is still quiet, we have beaten the day tripping crowd to it this time. It is warm though. Around 30ºC already. We take in the theatre and enjoy the scenery. We backtrack our steps on the Corso and peek inside the local museum and the Santa Catarina church, built on the foundations of Roman theatre. Some of the excavations is visible inside. the church. We carry on and turn off the Corso onto a side street towards the Giardini Pubblici, a city park Views are splendid from here. The Duomo or Cathedral is quite near our B&B. It a Romanesque building dating back to the 1100s, but richly decorated since. 

We take the car and drive to the northern slopes of mount  Etna. We eat a pizza slice on our way up and drive until  Piano Provenzana. It is the starting point for the 4WD busses who take you further up to the top. Unfortunately the weaterh is bad up there. There is thunder and lightning around the summit and operations have been suspended until 3pm. It is about 10 degrees cooler than back in town. At three o clock the weather is still bad and we are told that the bus service will not restart until tomorrow. A bit disappointed we drive back. Erik had rented walking shoes at the souvenir stall, but they turned out to be of no use. The owner offers to lend the again tomorrow at no extra charge. But we will have moved on by then. We make some pictures of the volcano that reveals itself from time to time when the clouds give way. On our way back to Taormina we stop for some pasta. Back in Taormina we are taken aback by the heat, so we go back to our room and its air conditioner.  

At night we have a cocktail at bar Casanova, from where we head for restaurant A’Zammara to have dinner in their garden. The food is superb and the service very attentive. We get to know a typical Sicilian side dish called Caponata. It  is a mix of cooked egg plants, olives and tomatoes, served cold. After dinner we have a drink at  Shatulle, away from the busy  Corso Vittorio Emmanuele.

Weather: warm and sunny. 32°C/90°F. On the slopes of Mt Etna only 22°C/72°F. .

Monday 31 August 2009

  Taormina - Palermo - Ustica: 277km drive, 1,25 hrs crossing

We take the motorway via Catania toward the A19 to Palermo. At Enna we turn of the motorway for a coffee and a peek at the castle. Unfortunately a main thoroughfare in Enna is closed for maintenance rendering local traffic into total chaos. We manage to get some good coffee, but we leave the castle for what it is. We do manage to make a picture of it from afar. Both Enna and its castle are strategically situated on a mountain top An hour or so later we are back on the motorway to Palermo. We arrive in Palermo around 1pm. Traffic is even more chaotic than in Enna and much busier Our satnav guides us through the mishmash of one way streets. Palermo traffic is not for the faint hearted. You have to act purposefully as the only way to get anywhere. We reach our hotel where we will be staying in two days time: Hotel Centrale Palace. We drop off our suit cases for safe keeping and have our car parked in the private car park. We have lunch in a little restaurant nearby.  

After lunch we take a taxi to the Stazione Marítima of Palermo. We have a reservation for the Hydrofoil or Aliscalfa to the small island of Ustica, but we have not paid or received our tickets. For that we have to report to the ticket office of Siremar, about 800 metres from the ferry terminal. It is closed until 2.45 and our boat leaves at 3.30. We are a bit anxious, but there is nothing we can do. We take position in front of the office and wait. The door opens at 2.30 and by showing my reservation number I get my tickets and I can pay the 93 euros for two return tickets. 

We walk to the docks and wait for the boat, that comes in some minutes before 3.30pm. We leave the quay side on time for the 60km sea journey to Ustica in the Tyrrhenian Sea. De jouney takes 1:15 hrs. On Ustica we are greeted by a driver with a van from Hotel Clelia. At arrival of our boat sheer chaos breaks out on the quay with people meeting and delivering passengers, hotel touts and other interested parties. We drive through the mob uphill to the village. The hotel is centrally located and is perfect. After a short break a go out to check out the diving school, which will take me out diving tomorrow. Mr Jump is located a few blocks away. I am greeted by Simone, who helps me to fix me up with a set of diving gear. We agree to meet tomorrow at the docks. My gear will be ready there for me. Saves me a lot of effort dragging it down there. Erik will come too and he will do some snorkeling. Simone prepares a snorkel set for him. 

At night we sip some drinks at the noisy outside bar of Carpe Diem enjoying the sea and harbour views under a beautiful sunset. Later we have dinner at Ristorante Mario Giapé. They only have fish on the menu. It tastes fine. I take octopus and sword fish. 

We go to bed early.

Weer: 31°C/88°F and sunny

 

Tuesday 1 September 2009

We get up early and have breakfast at 8am. Breakfast is on the rooftop floor of the hotel. The views are nice. Breakfast is relatively simple with chocolate croissants, jam, honey, coffee and tea. After breakfast we walk to the port, where Simone, Giuseppe and Roberto of Mr Jump are busy preparing the boat. It is a sizable group joining the trip. About 19 men and women. Because it is so busy we have put on our wetsuits on land. We board the boat around 9.30 and set course for our first diving spot: "the rock of the doctor" or  il scoglio del medico . We are the only foreigners on this trip, but Simone takes care of briefing in English. I will follow Roberto together with a father and his two young sons. in the third group to enter the water. According to Simone this is one of the best dives in the Mediterranean. It is very beautiful and we see lots of fish in all sizes. We swim through some tunnels, a first for me! After 45 minutes we surface again. A great experience. The water is crystal clear, even at great depths (up to 23 metres) and the views and colours are great. Erik has snorkeled during our dive and seen some fish too. But as many as I did. 

Back on board we go back to the port. De tanks are refilled and with a smaller party we go out to sea again. The second spot is very close to the port, just around the corner. The spot is called  Punta Falconera. This time Simone is our guide. We study a rock wall with nicely coloured growths, sea stars and fish hiding in holes. After that we head for a cave. We do not go in entirely,  but only a bit. Another special experience. Because the dives are close to one another in time and we go down to 20 metres again I reach my no-decompression time quite rapidly. My computer beeps. We move up a bit and I am safe again. We take our time for a safety stop and resurface after 47 minutes. We climb aboard and get back to port in no time. Our gear is landed by the crew, we only have to carry our own bag. We say goodbye and walk the stairs up to the village and our hotel. We have a shower and go for lunch.   We have lunch at Umberto at Hotel Ariston. After lunch we have some sleep and rest. 

After our sleep of the innocent I go back to Mr Jump for a debriefing, payment and filling out my log. We go for a drink at  Carpe Diem and later at night we have dinner across from the dive centre at La Luna Sul Porto with sea view. The friendly owner has no written menu, but she recites the options and is very willing to repeat it time and again. We have wonderful pasta and some Caponata. We round off with a after dinner drink on Piazza Umberto I.

 

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