taormina

Today we went to taormina which was a 40 minute drive from catania. It was absolutley incredible with amazing views of the sea, greek ruins, gorgeous buildings and art. You could even see the south of Italy's mainland which isn't far away at all! Here are some pictures of the town the veiws and ruins of a greek theatre...

a few more gorgeous buildings

Just a few more snaps from the last couple of days!

Catania fish market!

Today I went with my host mum to the city centre to observe the famous fish market (Pescheri) that is on 6 days a week near the main square. It was totally crazy, there were so many extroverted sicilians screaming at me to buy fish and when I told them I only spoke english they just got overexcited and started shouting more! I was told that today was nothing compared to its usual size as it was raining but I was completely overwhelmed. It was really the first time I felt totally foreign and I stood out like a sore thumb in my purple sundress and white ankle boots, not to mention my blonde hair and pale skin! I also got to see some traditional sicilian ceramics and puppets which are very symbolic and unique to sicily.

first dip in the med!

had my first swim in the mediterranean yesterday and it was great. The med is far warmer then the pacific and way saltier!! Because Catania is practically built on mt Etna it meant that the beach closest to my house was an array of dark volcanic rock rather than sand. Surprisingly I really liked the rocky alternative to golden sand and the sea was great to swim in... wasn't so keen on the little men wearing speedos and gold chains or the fact that i looked like a luminescent albino compared to the seriously bronzed locals! After the beach we went and had a look at this beautiful old castle on te outskirts of Catania. Molto Bene!

Here are a few snaps of the centre of catania. The elephant statue is the symbol of the city and there are two pictures of the anicent greek theatre which is thousands of years old