The last time I was there I stayed in the seaside city of Catania, which lies at the base of Mount Etna. I was really struck by this place. It has a quality I would describe as chaotic, mysterious, and raw.
I knew for sure this was the place to go to get what I wanted. The history of Catania is fascinating. Walking down a random street and you could be looking at structures built in the Greek, Roman, or medieval time periods.
Due to a declining population, some of these towns are even abandoned. I felt some urgency to get down to Catania before the end of spring because it gets really hot there. I booked a flight from Prague which had a layover in Naples. On my return I would spend a couple days in my old hometown of Napoli. This turned out to be a great move. They were incredibly helpful in so many ways. Rob has a background in sound engineering and location scouting for music videos.
He actually worked with Bowie once on an album in the 90s, so of course he was immediately my new best friend. Because of his experience with location scouting he pointed me in the right direction when it came time to figure out what hill towns I was going to explore.
I arrived in Catania in the evening and took a bus from the airport to the city center. Rob and Cristina greeted me when I arrived and helped me get settled in.
