Tuesday, August 28, 2012 – CATANIA, SICILY
Do not kick a Sicilian pigeon. I swear to god it was an accident, but it is
not fun to learn the hard way that Sicilian pigeons fight back.
Today the boat docked in Catania, a bustling fishing town on
the eastern coast of Sicily. Of note in
Catania are the fish market and statue of an elephant in the Piazza del
Duomo.
The fish market is a loud,
bustling outdoor event. Vendors shout at
each other in Sicilian Italian and shoppers pop between the butchers,
ironmongers, cheese, and - of course - fish stalls. Catania is primarily a fishing town, not a
tourist attraction, so the fish market has not yet been overrun with tee shirt
and snow globe vendors. You can totally find tee shirt and snow globe vendors
scattered throughout the city because this is where most of the cruise ships
dock for this area of Sicily, but the fish market functions to sell fish. It’s pretty neat. The elephant has a slightly funnier
story. The elephant is the symbol of
this particular city and it sports this hilariously creepy smile…
…because it also sports this…
The people of Catania chose the elephant because it was
strong and manly, but they couldn’t tell if it was a boy elephant or a girl
elephant. So they made sure that no one
would have any questions.
From essentially anywhere on the northeastern coast of the
island, you can see Etna. It’s the
highest volcano in Europe and certainly the most active. The most dramatic eruption took place in 1669
when lava flow partly engulfed Catania, reaching as far as the sea. Since then, Etna has grumbled several times
and remains under constant surveillance.
Monitors can provide 14 days’ warning of an eruption; so if you haven’t
heard anything, you can assume the next 14 days will be safe. I am not ashamed to say that volcanoes kind
of freak me out. This is not my first
time on Sicily nor is it my first time in this part of Sicily and I still have
zero desire to attempt to climb Etna. I
am perfectly happy to stand and look at it from a safe distance below.
Because this is not my first visit, I chose not to go back
to Taormina. It’s perfectly nice, but I
thought I would hit ancient Syracuse this time.
In the historic quarter of the town, Neapolis, you can find the
Archeological Park, which features the best-preserved Greek theater outside of
Greece. Aeschylus premiered some of his
plays there during the spring drama festival (I talk more about ancient Greek
theater here). The archeological park also features a Roman amphitheater, a
football field sized altar to Zeus, and the Orecchio di Dioniso. That last one is part of the massive
limestone quarry just east of the theater.
The story goes that the tyrant king Dionysus eavesdropped on the
conversations of the prisoners working the mine and the cut that supposedly
looks like a human ear has since been known as the Orecchio di Dioniso. Up the street about 3 blocks is the
Archeological Museum, which is worth the higher ticket price at the park. It houses a seriously impressive collection
of ancient coins and seals from various famous ancients who lived in Syracuse
like Plato and Archimedes.
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