Catania Sicily Travelspam

[elleflies]

I was lucky enough to swing two 30 hour layovers in Catania, Italy on the island of Sicily. Usually I try and do the site seeing thing but this time I ended up shopping my little heart out. Fortunately, Catania is pretty enough that you don't have to go far for a good photo opportunity. Between the old buildings and the market there always seems to be something interesting going on. Oh, some of the images of the seafood might be considered a little on the gross side. Keep scrolling, I promise it gets better!

Enjoy!


I think this might be one of my favorite images. Just... fancy a bit of swordfish? Obviously caught fresh :)



Just imagine the smell...



And this smell. But, hey, at least it's fresh.



Mmmmmm fresh calamari...



It might be possible that I went through this market going "oh, that looks disgusting. I should take a picture!" Which would be completely typical for me.



Meat. Yum *g* And yes, those are pig's jaws hanging there.



Finally, something appetizing!



So many interesting characters in this market...



All those things you hear about Italian fashion... um, yeah. About that...



Sicily isn't the richest of regions, and I'm thinking their version of long term parking might be completely different from other people's idea of it.



Can all door handles be like this? It would make life so much more entertaining.



The Catania Duomo, or main Cathedral for the city.






Sicilian Baroque artwork in the apse of the Duomo. It's all drama. Italian churches are so flash. *g*






I wish all churches in the states could be this dramatic.


There are so many more pictures I'd love to post, but I think I've posted enough.

As always my photos can be found at my flickr page. The rest of the Sicily photos can't be found here

Comments

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous pics! I'm glad I'm not the only person who likes to check out the local markets. *grins* And if you think the fish pics are on the slightly gross side, you should see what's down in the basement of my alma matter!

[elrina753.livejournal.com]

Thank you! local markets are sometimes the best place for photo ops. And people watching. This one was a gem.

I, personally, didn't find the fish gross, but my coworkers went through there looking like it was the most disgusting thing they'd ever seen. They can be very... sheltered sometimes.

I would so go through the basement of your alma matter with a camera in hand in a heartbeat.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Good for you! I can't imagine the smell would have been pleasant, though, as you mentioned.

And no pics of the basement allowed - a respect thing. *grins*

[elrina753.livejournal.com]

No, the smell wasn't pleasant. But as the official fish gutter and cleaner in my family... well, it was fish. It was what fish smelled like. And fish smell bad, so yeah...

Meh. So it's one of THOSE basements hunh? *g*

I think I'll save my camera for critters stuck in jars of formaldehyde in that case.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Nothing like the stench of dead, smelly fish first thing in the morning. *grins* How on earth did you manage to drag the rest of your coworkers along for this?

Yep - one of those basements, sort of. The lab itself is fairly tame once stuffs are put away, but the office has an, er, interesting critter in a jar of formaldehyde, so to speak.

[elrina753.livejournal.com]

It wasn't too hard. The first part of the market is all clothes and jewelry and house stuff and the second half is fruit and vegetables with fish stands sprinkled throughout so it's all "oh what lovely tomatoes" next to the hacked off head of a swordfish.

I would make a Ten hand joke right here but I'm still kinda bitter about that so I'm just going to grin and nod and think happy thoughts about critters that are not hands in jars of formaldehyde.