Our final full day in Catania was supposed to be another sea and sun day, basking in the wonderful rays of the sun and swimming in the Ionian Sea. That was not to be because it was cold, very windy, and quite rainy. Where we had lounged a few days ago was getting battered by the waves. The hotel staff had removed the loungers so they didn’t get swept away. We did sit outside for a bit in the wind listening to the waves crash on the lava rocks. It was pretty intense.
We then spent some time sitting in a lovely lounge area in the piano bar. There was again some conference going on at the hotel and at the bar, many of the conference attendees were having their morning espresso and networking. I had my laptop with me and I was trying to deal with my dying blog site. I was so frustrated with it.
We took a walk to an ATM. It was near a big Sheraton Hotel up the street. I like our hotel because it is right on the water. At the Sheraton, one has to cross a busy street and go to a lido for access to swimming. We stopped in at a little market alongside the road and picked up a couple of things. We spent the rest of the day resting and then packing. We had a light dinner in our room. We are going to miss having that big breakfast buffet; no pilfered food for our dinners after today.
Our flight to Florence departed at 9:05A. We got picked up by a taxi at 5:45A, always better safe than sorry, arriving with lots of spare time. Allessio had told us that with construction into the airport, traffic often backs up for miles. But we had no traffic that early in the morning. We stood around the ticket counter for over an hour, finally got checked in and our bags dropped and headed to the departure gate. Security is pretty much the same everywhere. Our issue is with the carry-on bag containing two laptops. These both have to come out of the suitcase, then out of their cases and placed in the x-ray bins. So that’s 2 laptops and 2 iPads that have to get unpacked and repacked. It’s a pain, for sure. At the departure gate, I staked a place at the front of the line. On many regional airlines in Europe, only the first 75 carry-on bags are allowed on board due to limited overhead bin space. With our carry-on being laptops, we couldn’t afford not to be able to carry on; can’t put our laptops in the hold of the plane. All went well and we were off to Florence.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I had yet to see Mt. Etna, other that a brief glimpse from our taxi from the airport. I still didn’t see much of the volcano, but as the place was taxiing to our takeoff, I did see Etna from the plane window. The photos don’t do justice to the enormous size of this mountain.
The plane ride is about an hour and 20 minutes. We flew over Messina, Sicily where the tip of Sicily nearly touches the toe of Italy. We also had some great views of the Italian coastline, mountains, and farmland. I always have my nose stuck to the window when I fly. I’m fascinated by the topography.
We landed in Florence, found our way to the taxi queue, and then were whisked into the city center. Although we couldn’t check in to our Airbnb until 2:00P, we wanted to at least locate it and then have lunch somewhere where we could also have our luggage with us. We found a restaurant just up the street and ate and relaxed until 2:00P.
The host’s friend Alesandro met us at the flat. We then were totally challenged by 4 flights of steep stairs with narrow steps. We have two 47-pound suitcases, an 18-pound carry-on bag and each of us has personal items over our shoulders. Wow! Alesandro carried one of the suitcases, I carried the other, and Christine had the laptop bag. What a struggle! I told Christine that when we leave we’ll just throw the suitcases out the window to the street. No one will be around to help us carry our luggage down when we leave. That should be a fun ordeal.
Alesandro gave us a quick tour of the flat. He obviously doesn’t speak much English and so he just pointed at things and within 3 minutes he was out the door. The flat is about the same size as the Sliema flat with living area, dining area, very small kitchen, fairly large bedroom with adjoining small bathroom. But the real plus of the place is its location. We are steps from the Ponte Vecchio and within a 5-minute walk to most of the major sights around the main square, di Duomo. It is an absolute thrill to just look out the window at the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio. It’s so exciting being in Florence.
After resting and unpacking, we walked across the Ponte Vecchio in search of a market. I took us a little far afield, but it was nice just strolling. We did find the market which was very crowded and laid out in a very confusing pattern. We picked up a few things to tied us over for a couple of days. We then walked back across the Ponte Vecchio to our flat, climbed the stairs and collapsed after a day of travel. But how exciting to go to sleep in Florence (Firenze in Italian)!
