Thursday, November 09, 2006

Catania

Today, as part of our orientation to the island, we were taken on a field trip to Catania. Twas great fun!

We arrived around 9:30A and after a brief explanation of where we were to meet up with the group and later the bus we were free to explore on our own. We started at the Piazza del Duomo next to St. Agata's Cathedral. In the middle of the piazza is the Fontana dell'Elefante.

St. Agata's Cathedral


Detail on the facade of St. Agata's Cathedral


Fontana dell'Elefante


Les & I took off down Via Etnea, the main shopping throughfare in Catania. Along the way there were several beautiful buildings.

Circulorum Gymnasium


Collegiata S. Maria dell'Elemosina


There were several nice, but expensive looking shops, but we decided to walk a bit further to the open air market. This market is held daily in Catania. What an experience! Everything from produce to curtains to designer knockoff handbags for amazing prices - I came away with about 5 things and spent less than 30 Euro!

After our fun in the mercado, we met up with our group for lunch at i'Crociferi. It is located on the Piazza San Francesco.

Chiesa di San Francesco


Statue of Cardinal Dusmet in Piazza San Francesco


After our lovely lunch we made our way back to the bus and then back to base. It was a great way to get out and experience Catania and learn our way around.

2 comments:

Valerie said...

Okay, I can't TELL you how jealous I am of reading your blog. Try as I might, I can't seem to convey to my fiance that I'm COMPLETELY OPEN to moving abroad... like, say, Europe!!!

I've put a link on my blog to your blog so my friends can see how cool I am to have a friend who lives in Europe. =)

Hehe... keep posting...and making me jealous!!! =)

Trav'ler Jenn said...

What lovely churches they have there! Wonderful! I am so glad you get to see all the pretty places!

I like the elephant fountain. What on earth???