A Day in Catania

Catania is half an hour or so down the coast from Sicily's Bay of Naxos, where we were camped. Rather than drive, we decided to make it a Saturday day-trip on the municipal bus. We are using the municipal buses a good deal, but not always with the greatest efficiency. But that's another story.

The Bellini statue in Catania; the composer

of Norma, he was quite influential in earlier

19th century opera

Remains of the Roman amphitheater in Catania; Catania is

Sicily's 2nd largest city (300,000), but it is most notable for

having rebuilt from one of Etna's major eruptions, in the

1690s; the theatre is buried under many feet of lava; much

of Catania's construction is from black lava blocks

The main square, Piazza del Duomo (I think...del Duomo is

always a good bet; and the cathedral of, well, St. Mary

would be a good bet)

The main attraction of the Square, however, is the 8th

century elephant carrying, interestingly, an Egyptian

obelisk; the elephant is Catania's symbol



Still life in the market area

In the meat market

The Square is evidently a good site for wedding pix



"OK, cut, stop action, finito..." (there will be plenty of time

for that later)



False-front church



Rather than wait for ther 6PM direct bus, we took the 4PM

local bus back to Naxos, and enjoyed an hour and a half's

leisurely views of the coast and coastal towns, not to

mention the local color one sees and hears aboard such

conveyances (at least a thousand "Mama Mia's!")

And another parade; the road was barely

wide enough for the bus and the float

And the kiddies; we're still not clear on

what all this pageantry is about, whether

pre-Mardi Gras, Don Corleone's birthday,

or something else