Today we visited Catania, the second largest city on the island of Sicily.

Perhaps the biggest, most important and exciting thing to say about Catania is that it sits at the foot of Mount Etna; two volcanoes in two days - who'd have thought it? Mount Etna, of course, continues to be active as does Strombolli, with the most recent eruptions being in 2001 and 2003, when many parts of Catania were damaged from flying boulders and flowing lava.

Again, I didn't have excursion duty today. It has been noted by other follks who help with the tour escorting that there don't appear to be as many excursion duties being handed out as usual, and that it might have something to do with fewer passengers actually booking them in these financially hard times (tours can cost passengers anything from about £45 up to £85 per person). I had expressed a particular interest in the visit to Mount Etna tour, but when I mentioned it to the tours manager it had already been allocated (grrrr!).

So, for me, it meant another meandering day....

Catania is a big, mad old city. Despite having two maps with me, I still managed to get myself completely lost within 20 minutes of being ashore. I thought the traffic in Gagliari was a bit crazy, but that has been completely trumped by Catania. Remember the traffic jam in 'The Italian Job'? It was just like that.... Drivers honking their horns incessantly (like that's going to do the trick), and Vespers weaving in and out of the traffic, completely oblivious as to whether there might be pedestrians trying to cross the road or not (I met two elderly ladies from the ship who announced that they were going back - they couldn't stand it - they'd been almost run over by a bus twice already). Honestly; it was completely mad! Considering how Italians are supposed to be gah-gah about their cars, it amazes me how they treat them. It occured to me, after a while that pretty much every car I saw had dents and scratches all over their bumpers and down their sides - some were mangled up quite badly; it's not surprising, I can tell you! At one point, there was all this traffic, bumper-to bumper, down this big street leading up to the Piazza Duomo (which was where I was heading); drivers were bashing on their horns like they were going out of fashion, and a traffic cop type person stood on the pavement blowing a whistle at the top of his.... whatever... motorbikes and mopeds just ignored the whole thing - even taking to the pavements if it got them a few extra feet... mad - just .... mad!!

So, anyway; I don't know how, but I did manage to navigate my way around Catania, and despite the traffic, did enjoy what I saw; there was the Cathedral, in which there was a service in progress, which sounded just fantastic - very ethereal; there was a Roman Amphitheatre (two actually, but the other one required payment to get in, and I'm tight), which is very much in ruins, and mostly underground but still reminiscent of Russell Crowe in 'Gladiator' ("on my word.... unleash hell!!"); there were a couple of outdoor markets, which were lively and fun to wander through (but I still couldn't see anything that I wanted to spend money on); and a Castle, the interior of which is now a museum (and had free admission - so I thought; I'll have some of THAT!).

By the time I returned to the ship, I was quite footsore and tired. Catania had impressed me, but it had also drained me somewhat. Although there are pedestrian crossings, it seems only every other driver takes any notice of them (and the Vesper moped drivers don't seem to take any notice of them at all). To move anywhere within the city you need eyes in the back of your head and the ability to sidestep oncoming vehicles at a moment's notice. No wonder I just flaked out on my bed when I get back to the ship.....

We left Catania at 4pm and are now sailing towards Koper, in Slovenia (2 days sailing I think).

It's been a hectic day, and although it's another Formal Night tonight, for which I'll be making an effort, I expect it'll probably be an early night.... Tomorrow I'm planning on having the workshop dedicated to painting skies, and volcaones........