After Modica, the rest of the drive was smooth and uneventful. We dropped our car, and camped out in a cafe hidden upstairs at the airport. It was out of the way, so we were able to get a table and have a snack and glass of wine, while we read for a hour.
We took the red and blue AliBus, which runs direct between the airport, port, train station and downtown. It cost €4 each, and took less than twenty minutes to get us to the port. This is a great bus service.
The ferry to Malta leaves from the port of Pozallo, in southern Sicily. But, you can buy a ferry ticket from Catania to Malta. The first part of our ferry trip is a bus ride to Pozallo.
So we were dropped at the port, walked about fifty feet right (facing the water) into the big pink building, and picked up our ferry tickets I bought back in January.
The tickets cost €115 each, pretty pricy, but for us more convenient than flying over.
he line is Virtu Ferries, and yes, it is cheaper to just fly there.
The bus left at 18:30 and we were at the ferry and onboard before 20:00.
The ferry ride was quick, in fact we spent more time sitting at the dock than we did actually going across. There was a crappy snack bar, a couple slot machines, the "stuff you don't need for expensive prices" store, and lots of comfortable seating.
We landed at 23:15, were at our apartment by midnight, and went out for a drink.
I finally crashed about 2:00 the next morning.