Catania, Sicily Nov 14

 Today we took a short bus ride to visit the ancient city (founded 8th century BC) of Catania, on the east coast of Sicily, and Sicily's 2nd largest city after Palermo, with a population of about 300,000.  It's an important rail and sea hub for Sicily.  Mt Etna, at 10,000 ft,  prominently overlooks the city, and is always smoking (smoke is blowing to the right)

 

Catania had a bad 17th century.  Mt Etna erupted in 1669, its most destructive eruption in 1700 years.  It didn't totally destroy the city, due to diversion of the lava into the sea by the city walls, but the western parts of the city were wiped out.  Then in 1693, there was an earthquake with an epicenter about 20 miles to the south, 7.4 on the Richter scale, the most powerful in Italian history.  85% of the city was destroyed and 2/3 of the citizens died. This cathedral and pink wall were among the surviving structures

 

 

The city was rebuilt in a smart way. Previously there were narrow, windy streets and alleys like the ones we saw in Chania yesterday.  In the rebuild, the city required straighter and wider streets, large city squares where the citizens could run in case of another earthquake, and buildings restricted to 3 stories high.  The city infrastructure is largely black since it is built from black volcanic rock (basalt) from Mt Etna.  Here is the main city square

 

In the middle of the square is a statue of an elephant (topped by an Egyptian obelisk), signifying the strength of the city.

 

Catania has a major university with 65,000 students (most via online courses, the city is far too small to handle nearly that number).  Police were surrounding one of city squares where some of the students were doing what students do, demanding  "Free Palestine"

 

We walked thru the market area, where we saw many types of fish, some still flopping around  and the vendors loudly yelling at potential buyers

 The market also had fresh local olives

 

 and unknown meats

  We saw Roman baths from around 100 AD
 

an old fort, a survivor of the Mt Etna eruption due to its thick walls

 We were given about 45 min of free time to roam around, so we visited the gelato shop recommended by our guide. 

 We got the pistachio gelato nestled in a sweet brioche bun...YUMMMM!

 The local pistachios reportedly have a unique flavor due to the volcanic ash in the soil

The tour guide said Catanians are especially proud of the composer Bellini, who lived here.  Can't say I know his music (yet!)

There is a baroque cathedral on the main square dedicated to the martyr St Agatha

 

There were several blocks in the market area covered by umbrellas (not sure why)

Upon our return, the ship's entire crew formed a cordon for us to walk through, clapping and cheering us as we reboarded the ship, kind of like the end of a race (guess they nothing better to do)