Another year and a new destination: Sicily and Malta! This was year that we discovered the advantage of taking an overnight ferry instead of struggling with hectic end of summer traffic. After an awesome weekend in jolly old London, we flew to the Basque Country to prepare our camper for the journey. A week later, we were on our way to Barcelona to board our ferry for Civitivecchia, the port of Rome. This was a big improvement over driving…but we regretted not having sailed all the way to Sicily. Luckily, we found another ferry that was bound for Catania, and we drove to the port of Salerno to catch it.  The next morning we caught a glimpse of Mount Etna from our ferry…

Our Itinerary from London, UK to Catania, Sicily, Italy

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK

St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK

‎⁨Ispoure⁩, ⁨Aquitaine⁩, ⁨France⁩

Our ferry to Italy, Barcelona, Spain

City Center, ⁨Salerno⁩, ⁨Campania⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

View of Catania and Mt. Etna from our ferry, Sicily, Italy

Much of Catania is constructed from the lava that poured down the mountain and engulfed the city in the 1669 volcano eruption. The old city is elegant, with its baroque piazzas and impressive remains of Greco-Roman ruins.  Driving in such a dynamic and bustling city is something we wanted to avoid and fortunately there is a campground that’s a short bus ride to the city center.  The Piazza del Duomo is a Unesco World Heritage site and is located near most of Catania’s other memorable monuments.  We also had an amazing lunch at Trattoria di De Fiore.  Although it has had rave reviews from guide books and travel websites for some time now, the ambiance is still inviting, and we had the pleasure of meeting the famous Mamma Rosanna, whose Pasta alla Norma did not disappoint.  Our walking tour included a visit to the port, where we bought more ferry tickets to Malta from the Sicilian port of Pozzollo.

Piazza dell’Duomo, ⁨Catania⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Fontana dell’Elefante, ⁨Catania⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Fontana dell’Amenano, ⁨Catania⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

⁨Cattedrale di Sant’ Agata, ⁨Catania⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Anfiteatro Romano, ⁨Catania⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Mamma Rosanna’s Pasta alla Norma, Catania, Sicily, Italy

Our journey from Catania to Pozzallo, Sicily, Italy

We left for Pozzallo, stopping in Noto, said to be the finest baroque town in Sicily.  The old town’s complex of golden sandstone buildings are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town itself was pretty quiet, compared to Catania, though there were bus loads of tourists that crowded around the main square.  We meandered the elegant, graceful buildings and town houses, then continued to the sleepy port of Pozzallo to catch the high speed ferry to Valletta, Malta.

Entrance to old town, ⁨Noto⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Cattedrale San Nicoló. Old Town, ⁨Noto⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Old Town, ⁨Noto⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Chiesa del SS Crocifisso, ⁨Noto⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Port of ⁨Pozzallo⁩, ⁨Sicily⁩, ⁨Italy⁩

Our ferry from Pozzallo,Sicily to Valletta, Malta