CATANIA’S FABULOUS MARKET AND SPECTACULAR MT ETNA

Envoy is now in Sciacca (pronounced “Sharka”) harbour, south-west Sicily.
We soon discovered that eating out in Sicily is slightly dearer than Greece, although the restaurant fare is far more diverse and generally better. The Italian wine selection is of course superb, and very reasonably priced with good bottled wines available from about 2.30 Euros (NZ$3.60). Supermarket prices seem very reasonable, and with some real bargains; chicken legs 2.90 Euros (NZ$4.53) per kg, wings 1.90 Euros (NZ$3) per kg, pork chops 5 Euros (NZ$7.80) per kg, extra virgin olive oil from 3 Euros (NZ$4.70) per litre.
Sicily’s population is similar to New Zealand’s at about 5 million, buy locals tell us the economic situation is not good with over 20% unemployment, compared with 10% for Italy as a whole. The average wage in Italy is about 1,200 Euros (NZ$1,935) per month, whereas it is only half that in Eastern Europe. Consequently manufacturers have been shifting their plants - an example being the relocation of a major Fiat plant from Palermo to Poland.
Next stop was Catania where we berthed in the marina for 55 Euros (NZ$89) per night – this is one of the cheaper marinas! There was so much roll coming into the marina that we’ve had many calmer anchorages, but the marina was a good base for a tour of Mt Etna. Many marinas here are just walled-off sections of the open sea, and subject to swell and surge. Also they often have large fleets of fishing boats which move around at speed setting up wakes.

This cute, compact Twizy electric car parked in the marina has a 100km range before needing recharging

Catania’s 4th century elephant statue in Duomo Piazza

Catania’s gorgeous cathedral

Our Mt Etna tour was as part of a group of eight traveling by Land Rover with a passionate and knowledgeable guide, Sebastiano. The full-day tour cost 55 Euros (NZ$86) including lunch, so we thought it was pretty good value, and although we’ve seen several volcanoes home in New Zealand, Mt Etna has fascinating historical aspects. It’s too dangerous to visit the summit but the tour took us 2,000 metres up the 3,323 metre mountain, where despite the fine day it was about 5 dC. Europe’s largest live volcano’s changing moods have had a big impact on the history of eastern Sicily – a violent eruption with a mile-wide lava stream largely destroyed Catania in 1669. These days there are typically 25 eruptions each year, some resulting in loss of life and damage.

One of Mt Etna’s impressive lava flows

House buried in lava from recent eruption

Laurie and Chris wearing helmets needed for lava cave exploration

Lunar-like landscape of Mt Etna

One of Catania’s most famous features is La Pescheria – the fish market and adjoining food market.
Catania’s La Pescheria market

This is the most exciting and interesting market we’ve ever been to – a gastronomic delight where locals treat their shopping as a pleasure, not a chore. The market’s mayhem assaults all your senses – the bellowing of vendors advertising their wares, the chopping of fish fillets, the clink of ice and splash of water being cast over fish to keep them glisteningly moist, the angry yell of an accidentally splashed elderly lady dressed in black, the good-natured bargaining between sellers and buyers, the aroma of dozens of fish varieties, fresh breads, cheeses and cured meats, live octopuses slithering across the stalls, the kaleidoscope of colours and textures, and the whole experience set in an atmospheric spider’s web of cobbled lanes straight from a movie set. We see so many varieties of fish, including some very large tuna and swordfish, that we wonder why our fishing has been so unsuccessful.

The market sells every imaginable type of food

Large swordfish in La Pescheria

There are dozens of stands like this selling varities of seafood

Slabs of delicious cheeses abound

There are so many people here that we can only walk at a snail’s pace, and after buying what we need we find a small café with outdoor tables to enjoy a none-too-healthy breakfast of cappuccino and chocolate croissants.
TECHNICAL Chris has been helping us with a number of both maintenance jobs and improvements:
- Our refrigerator door stopped closing properly so Chris modified the gasket
- On the advice of another Nordhavn owner we checked the sealant around the base of the mast for water leaks, and Chris laid a new bead of 3M 5200 to keep it watertight. For this job we used an unopened sealant cartridge dating from 2005, and it worked perfectly (so much for 1-2 years shelf life!)
- Resolved a sound quality issue with our DVD player
- Modified our BBQ to make it easier to keep cooked food warm
- Repaired our guest shower nozzle and fitted a new adjustable mirror in the guest bathroom
- Repaired our port forward teak rubbing strake
- Fitted a protective cover around our guest head power switch
- Installed a new clock mechanism in our brass bedroom clock
- Made improvements to the dinette table
- Our main Raritan electric head is not working well and we’ve tried a few ideas to fix it. Next step is to replace the joker valve

LOG As at 30/5/14, we’d spent 52 days aboard and cruised 463 miles for 79 engine hours.