All I remember is falling asleep at the train station in Rome in the sleeper trains and waking up in the train station in Catania, Sicily. Compared to the other train stations that were usually bustling with people, this train station seemed absolutely abandoned. An occasional business man would walk by us and then it was empty again. And there was no information desk or anything. I was almost expecting a tumbleweed to come out from around the corner. I guess after going to all the other fancy train stations with the souvenir shops and cafes, we didn’t expect for the train station to only have a train in it..lol. Finally, we found a ticket booth for the city buses outside, except the guy didn’t understand any English but with my sister’s broken Italian and my broken Spanish, we bought some tickets and headed toward the center.
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After what felt like we drove around the whole island of Sicily, we finally arrived at the Centre. We needed WiFi and to talk to somebody who knew English. Thank God there was a McDonald’s right by the bus station where we stepped off. And those were the best McDonald’s fries I’ve ever had!
** Just a side note, recently I’ve been interested in how different the many McDonald’s around the world are. As in, they carry different food depending on the culture. Check out this article for different McDonald menus around the world.
While we were eating, my cousin and sister went out to get an internet card, and my other cousin and I were left to suitcase-sit. We were still really tired so we were glad to just sit around, eat, and catch up on social media. Something that we had to do in a lot of wifi cafes was enter in our name, email, and credit card number… which I was a little wary to do, but no money was missing later on so I guess it was fine.
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When my cousin and sister finally came back, we hailed a cab and this adorable Italian guy picked us up and drove to this amusement park that my cousin wanted to go to. I felt like the car ride was an amusement enough for me. He didn’t speak any English, and he didn’t understand my sister’s Italian so we ended up talking through Google Translate which was hilarious. One other hilarious thing was that the amusement park was closed for lunch… or at least that’s what the taxi driver said… he was probably joking. We didn’t have too much time so we decided to go to the beach instead. The driver recommended a beach called Cucaracha Beach (totally recommend, but probably not to go to the resort… just to go to the beach) which was a resort by the beach.
We spent a lovely time there by the Mediterranean wading, tanning, and napping. This is like pretty nasty, but we didn’t have a place to shower since Rome (I say that like it’s a long time ago, but it was actually yesterday XD… but we were still pretty sweaty and gross from travelling). We were so excited when we found these outside showers that the resort owned! And we totally walked inside in our swimsuits ready to turn the water on… except no water came out. I don’t think I was ever so disappointed. My sister wouldn’t have any of it though, and she just went into the water shed and tried turning several different handles (yeah… don’t try this at home) and the water started gushing out. So that was how we took showers in Sicily. I don’t think I was ever so excited about taking a shower as I did then. Lol. People did look at us super weird though.
Right on the resort, there was this little tent where this middle-aged Italian couple (the dude looked like an Italian Elvis) sold food. And it wasn’t just snacks, like we initially thought, but salad and sandwiches and stuff. They were so sweet and hospitable, and they both had such beautiful melodic voices (is that weird to say that? 🙂 ).
They brought us a Caprese Salad, a meat/cheese sampler, and like OG Pelegrinos. Everything tasted soooo delicious, and we were soooo hungry! And the crazy thing was that they wouldn’t let us pay for any of it! My sister read somewhere online the more south you go in Italy, the less the people like tourists, but these people were so amazing!
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We found this shuttle that was heading back to town and packed all our stuff in it. The driver seemed to be a pretty funny guy and knew a bit of English. I don’t know about anyone else, maybe I’ve just heard too many stories about kidnappings or something, but there were times in Europe, when I was afraid that we’ll be kidnapped (my cousins told me about the movie “Taken”). This was one of those times, lol. The thing is my cousin was sitting in the front seat, and my sister and other cousin were in the middle seat, and all those seats had doors beside them. But I, unfortunately, was sitting in the back with all the suitcases. So if for some reason, there was something stupid happening, my cousins and sister could somehow, if miraculously, jump out, and, ofcourse, I would be left, stranded, with all the suitcases in the backseat. And throughout the drive to town, I probably prayed several times (of course, I’m sure that didn’t hurt at all). Thank God, the driver was totally safe, although he did ask my sister and older cousin for their Facebook, haha :).
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We came into town, walked around some cute shops, ate gelato. Ohmigoodness, guys gals, let me tell you!!! The gelato in Italy is sooo delicious. I was especially addicted to the Amarena Cherry, Hazelnut, and Tiramisu flavors. Like I had it like five times when I was in Italy. Totally recommend!
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We were so exhausted; we decided to sit and rest in the downtown “square.” There was a huge screen with a bunch of random advertisements playing on it.
The most interesting thing happened next.
So the two weeks we were in Europe, the UEFA Euro 2016 (European Futbol Championship) was happening. Without even realizing, we got stuck in the middle of a fan zone. Basically, one moment we were just sitting there and watching the awesome architecture, and the next, people started flocking, with flags and painted faces! The big screen started showing renditions of soccer game highlights, and then the actual soccer game began. It was so loud and there was so much cheering and yelling. Such a cool experience. Except of course, we HAd to sit on a log where there were a bunch of ants and that wasn’t super cute.
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Recommendations / “Heads ups”
- If you don’t have any WiFi or can’t speak Italian, head over to the nearest McDonalds… they usually have English speakers, as well as, WiFi
- In general, recommendations.. if you’re in the city for a day and don’t want to carry all of your stuff, use the train station baggage deposits. It’s a little pricey but definitely worth not carrying your stuff everywhere.
- People in Italy tend to start the day a little later than people in America.. so lunchtime would be around 3p.. and some businesses tend to close for lunch.. For example, the streets were almost empty when we arrived there in the morning but were quite busy in the evening when we were leaving.