Family FIRE Travels: Catania, a Sicilian City

Continuing our family FIRE travel series, we spent the third week of our early 2022 European travels in the Sicilian city of Catania, a historic Italian town with the second largest population on the island.

The seaside city’s history is intertwined with that of Mount Etna, the nearby active volcano that has shaped the city with massive lava flows and disruptive earthquakes over the centuries.

Catania isn’t a tourist mecca like so many other places in Italy. Still, we found ample opportunities in and around the city to do some sightseeing and absorb the rich history.

It’s Not a Vacation. It’s a Lifestyle.

We don’t take vacations anymore. That sounds really sad with no context, but I no longer think of our travels as vacation time. We’re just living our lives in a variety of places, experiencing different cultures, and exploring things that can’t be found close to home.

It was a month-long round trip toward the beginning of a stretch of three trips of similar length to kick off 2022. We were making up for lost time after so many of our travel plans were canceled due to the pandemic.

One, it was easy to get to from Malta. There were very cheap flights on Ryanair from Malta to Sicily and from Sicily to Rome. I’m talking €15 to €20 Euro per person, although we did have to pivot to a €50 flights from Malta when RyanAir canceled the one-way flight we were scheduled to take to get to Catania.

Accommodations and Transportation in Catania

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Like we did throughout this trip, we stayed in an Airbnb convenient to the town center. For $574 USD, we got a week in a 2nd floor apartment with 3 bedrooms, each with their own small balconies, and 2 bathrooms.

Oddly, there was no actual living room, but there was a dining room that served as a de facto gathering place when we weren’t in bedrooms.

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