The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Leavin for Sicily

Wow, what a day it has been. After one long bore of journey we have had a fabolous day that I just need to get off my chest before I go to bed.

The bad first:
Bad flight schedule had us leave home at 8 am, arrive at Stockholm ARN with five hours to kill. It's a boring airport. The Alitalia-flight to Catania via Milan was roughly 3pm-6pm and 9pm to 11pm. A long day.

Bad traffic arriving in Catania around midnight on a Saturday... The traffic is insane. Furthermore it's pitch black and you're trying to locate tiny white hotel signs stuck to walls and signpoles while keeping an eye out for those road signs "Catania porto" posted so high up the car headlights didn't reach them enough for easy reading. Needless to say, we were lost. Followed the signs to the port one to many crossroads, and hey presto, here's the port! We almost laughed when we looked around. We were not the only ones the that ended up there unwillingly. It was like a F1 pit stop, dozens of cars swinging by and then steering back on the road again. Zigzaging along one-way streets, trying to figure out where how to get the map to resemble the real deal, swallowing your heart back into your chest after holding your own through a four "lane" roundabout full of testosterone on wheels isn't much fun either when all you want is a comfy bed. On the issue of Catania traffic Lonely Planet conludes: "Remember to bear in mind that driving in Catania is only for the brave (or heavily insured). If you must drive, the best time to arrive and leave is between 2pm and 4pm or on Sunday, when everyone is safely at home and not in their cars." I second that. 2.30 on a Sunday was a perfect time to leave :)

Bad parking. Finding an empty spot to leave your car is difficult. Finding out if leaving it there is legal is even more difficult. The price for not knowing Italian.

Now for the good parts.
Baroque. We have seen houndreds of wounderful, grotesque, magnificent barouqe buildings. Lime stone and old lava stone carved as wood to complex designs. Wrought iron forged to flourishes in gates and balconies. Columns and capitals. Houses, palazzas, churches. Ssome faded beauties, others restored to old grandeur. I love it! (Catania was flooded in lava 1669 and hit by an earhtquake in 1693, and consequently rebuilt in the style a la mode)

The coffee. Whatever we call caffe latte back home isn't worth the name. My daughter almost licked the inside of her cappucino cup. "This is good. This is so strong. Good strong. Why does swedish baristas think that we like our coffee bitter?!"

Heureka. I have found it and I love it. Ortigia. The old part of Siracusa, located on an island next to mainland, is living history. Ancient Greek, Norman, baroque and more. Home to Archimedes. Narrow roads and alleys. Restaurants, shops, and dwellings in houses that look like an architechts study book. Whenever you turn around a corner the ambiance changes. Cosy. Imposing. Sad. Flamboyant. Easygoing.

The apartment hotel. And the apartment. And the shower. If it was only for the shower I would love this whole vacation. How can you not fall in love with the angular assymetrical arched-in mosaic tiled shower? Of course you can't. So we did. Luckily, the rest of the apartment is all good too. Nowhere near luxury, but space, function and history too. And not to forget, the super super. The concierge that ran stairs up and down and rummaged through boxes and bags until he found the adapter that made it possible for us to charge the laptop and get online. Some Spanish, a bit of French, a lot of Italian and very few words in English somehow got us connected to the electricity net and the wifi lan, transferred passwords and offered Indian fig (Opuntia ficus-indica). I love that too.

The climate. Leaving the windbreaker and the cardigan. Enjoying the sun on naked arms, and when beads form on our foreheads, longing for cool shade. By noon touching 80F/27C when hiding from the sun, compared to my hometowns 47F/8C in pouring rain and howling winds.

I am loving this!

/K