babakotoeu:
The Piazza Stecicoro is one of the many beautiful squares in Catania. Not visible here, but it also holds the remains of an old Roman Amphitheatre [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
This is a view on Via Etnea, one of the major streets in central Catania. Catania was for a big part destroyed by the Etna Volcano during its worst eruption that lasted 122 days in 1669 [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Catania is still a very lively city. Old buildings and picturesque squares and streets go hand in hand with everyday Italian life [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Catania’s St Agata’s Cathedral is the eye-catching monument on the UNESCO listed Piazza de Duomo, Catania’s central square [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Colourful tourists are enjoying Catania’s wonderful sights [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
The city centre of Catania is largely built with the lava of the 1669 Etna eruption that destroyed the city. That’s why you see many buildings having the black and white colours, the colour of lava and marble [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Catania is Sicily’s second commercial city after Palermo and is also a university town, giving the city a young and hip appeal [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
After the 1669 Etna eruption, resulting in 12000 death in Catania, the Barok master architect Vaccarini was asked to rebuild the city to its former grandeur [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
View on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, with the St Agata’s cathedral in the background [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
We stayed on the Junio City Campsite, just a bus ride away from the city centre. But keep in mind that the public transport is organised the ‘Italian way’. And that means: few buses on a very irregular schedule [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Catania is not converted yet to a ‘museum city’ as some of the other more popular tourist cities did. Commercial every-day activities take place everywhere in the city, even in the streets surrounding the Piazza Duomo [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
A street market just a block away from Catania’s UNESCO listed Piazza Duomo [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
What do you like to have in your soup today? Just make a choice! [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Traffic is chaotic in Catania, as in most other Italian cities. That makes the scooter the ideal form of transport, because the services of the Public Transport Authority aren’t that comfortable [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
View on Via Antonino di Sangiuliano [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Via Umberto I, another example of Catania’s beautiful streets [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Beautiful facades on Via Umberto I [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Also Catania has its problems as other Italian cities have with poverty. Sicily is at the moment the main gateway to Europe for many African refugees. You will see many African refugees in Catania, some begging for money at supermarkets, while others try
babakotoeu:
Catania’s UNESCO listed Piazza del Duomo with the smiling elephant on Fontana dell’Elefante in the middle [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
The façade of St Agata’s Cathedral [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Beggar in front of St. Agata’s Cathedral [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
View on Via Vittorio Emanuelle II from Piazza del Duomo [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Small shops in Catania with the typical Italian scooters in front [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
A majestic church in Catania [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Catania is one of the places to visit on Sicily. We definitely prefer it above Syracusa, which is much more a ‘museum city’ without the typical Italian atmosphere [Catania / Italy]
babakotoeu:
The extremely beautiful Piazza del Duomo in Syracusa, with its impressing Cathedral [Syracusa / Italy]
babakotoeu:
View on Syracusa’s historic centre [Syracusa / Italy]
babakotoeu:
The centre of Syracusa has no sandy beach but only a rocky cliff. But Italians always find a way to sunbath, even if the setting isn’t that picturesque [Syracusa / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Locals fishing in Syracusa’s historical city centre [Syracusa / Italy]
babakotoeu:
Beautiful, but empty alley in Syracusa. The historical city centre is nowadays more a museum then a city where people live, and that makes the city much less atmospheric then for example Catania or Palermo [Syracusa / Italy]
