Catania

We left Noto for Catania on the 9:15 bus, and arrived in approximately the quoted hour and a half. There were definitely shades of Costa Rica here - as I asked the bus driver if we were going to the Piazza Borsellino, and would he tell me when we stopped there, I thought "we're not stopping there, and he isn't going to tell us ..." Sure enough, we went right on past it, and at the station, he said "everybody off" - sigh. Fortunately, several people directed us to the city bus stop to take us back. And when we got on, we did the one thing I *knew* we weren't supposed to do - we didn't have a ticket, and so of course couldn't validate it (huge fine if you're caught)! Well, the driver didn't seem to care about such a short ride for the stupide touriste, and we stuck it out. Then we had to walk to our hotel. This was a far cry from our last European vacation, when we had no GPS - this time, we just moved the blue dot until we got there (whew!).

So, we got here, and realized we were really stressed - hot, sweaty, and cranky! A little relaxing, a little picnic lunch, and we're ready to go!

On our very corner was one site, the Castle Ursino, so we took a stroll...

Then we hit a few highlights:

Stopped for a beer and iced coffee (yay!), and headed back to the other side of the city center

and the odeon / greek teatro

Back at our hotel, we got settled (this included a shower, water, and wine), and watched a *hailstorm!* It was quickly over, but we were sure glad we had had our walk earlier!
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