Sicily.

I don't think I was scared. Maybe a little. Maybe I'd read too many novels set on Sicily. Stepping off the ferry in Messina I kept my bags close. Vigilant about every body near me - all potential threats, right? I managed to keep this level of worry up for about 10 minutes and by the time we were at the train station I'd given up. It didn't feel scary. Grimy? Yes. Poor? Yep. But it didn't feel unsafe. It didn't feel like people were desperate.

This was also the place we were hiring a car, and I'd heard so many horror stories about hiring cars in Italy. Especially southern Italy. Google Translate made the whole thing easy, and very funny. Did we want full insurance was the gist of the question. Google Translate insisted that the question was whether we wanted Full Helmet. I knew what it meant, so it was fine - but from then on, whenever we were doing anything in the car that seemed vaguely dodgy (like leaving it in a free car park between a smashed up car and a burnt out car in Palermo for a couple of nights, or driving on some very steep and windy roads over Mount Etna) we just shrugged and said that we have full helmet, so it doesn't matter.

Also, the Lancia Ypsilon is one of the worst cars I've ever had the pleasure to drive. It was so bad that it was fun.

Palermo

We punctuated our drive from Catania to Palermo with a swim in the Mediterranean. I absolutely needed it after highway driving in the Worst Car of All Time. Acceleration? None. Braking? Shuddery terrifyingness. The swim was everything my last swim in the Mediterranean wasn't. Last time had been somewhere between Valencia and Barcelona, in early spring twenty years prior. Frigid. Crystal clear. Deserted. A 30 second walk over the road from the hostel. In Palermo we had to find a spot to park our car (I know, I know) that wasn't charged by the minute using an app, then find a walkway down to one of the public beaches between the private sports resorts that litter (literally) the coast.

It was absolutely worth it. The camera remained in the car, though, so no photos.

Palermo was wonderful. Narrow, windy, grimy, and beautiful. The kind of city that I just want to be part of the flow in. Not going to see anything particular. Just being part of the dynamic force of it all. Its history, and its future. It was where I started taking photos of animals in the street, which became a theme for the rest of the trip. It's where it felt like we started exploring new food. It was wonderful.

Catania

I'm not sure if we stayed in a hostel or hotel in Catania. It doesn't matter. It was gorgeous. Through a maze of coded doors to get to the front door of the hostel. Then dark hallways through to our room, past a kitchen, and people Just Hanging Out.

Catania was magnificent and I'll let the photos speak for the city rather than my words.