Interesting scams at the port. You pull your car up to the building where the ticket window is. Get out and go up to the window to buy your ticket over. All over the car lanes are guys selling everything from candy to fake Rolex's to English instructions on how to get to the dock, which is like a half block from the ticket window.
Huge ferry which departs every 40 minutes for the most part, 24 hours a day. It took maybe 12 big semi's on the lower deck and wasn't even a third full. Forty or so cars and only a third full as well. We made the 10:40 out of V.S. Giovanni. Windy on the channel across. It's only a mile at the narrow point, so it's 20 minute voyage.
Very windy crossing. When they made their turn it really got a good rocking motion they headed into the wind. Sporadic rain made staying out on the promenade tough so we took a few pics then headed in to watch to the windows.
Finally docking in Messina, the real fun began. Three lanes of traffic, down to one, cars nudging their way in front of you, motorcycles going where ever they wanted and that was just getting out of the dockyards.
A fairly easy, if not hectic drive out of town, due to a downpour, and (for Italy) good signage as to where the A20 Autostrada began. Heart rate came down, adrenalin smoothed out. A 160 KM to Palermo on the tollway.
Not really a whole lot of traffic on the A20, since it's a toll road I guess. A modern miracle of engineering though. Must have been 75 or 80 tunnels on this road, varying in length from 200m to 2500 m. Lots of great scenery as well. I, of course couldn't see a lot, since I was driving at 110 to 130 KPH. Just cruising along and getting passed like I was standing still.
So we're back in the homeland for Joe. Sicily is where his grandfather and all of his Grand uncles (is that a word?) came from.
Our arrival at Palermo was made so much more interesting by the combination of unbelievably bad directions (thanks to Booking.com) and no street names on the exits from the main artery (E90). So after driving a stop and go speeds, I thought that I saw a street name that I recognized and off we went into Palermo traffic.
Chaos.Again.
Other than a good memory of the general direction of the port and the general location of the hotel (i.e. near the port) we were pretty much on our own in a town of no East/West, North/South grids. Kept going North (towards the port) kept working our way round one ways, dead ends and round-a-bouts till we finally ended up on the main road in front of the port. Headed west, cause that was the way we had to turn. A bit of panic, then, being the manly men that we are, went into a Esso station for directions.
Astoria Palace??? Ah, a finger point. Less than a block away. Simply divine intervention.
Checked in. Got our room and headed out for a walk, in search of somewhere to eat.
Note to self: Sicilian restaurants don't open for dinner until 8 PM. 2 + hours from now.
So we walked around looking for a place that Joe could buy his wife a gift.
Note to self: Shopping sucks here. Tough to find anything worth while, since shopping isn't concentrated in any given area. Maybe a clothes shop here, maybe a boot store here, maybe blocks with nothing. Bizarre.
Shots of Palermo streets.
Nice digs at the top of the hill, huh? Hopefully you can see the castle.
Lots of street vendors of fish, fruit, meat, you name it. Drive up, order, drive off. Joe got italian celery, not bad, a bit of licorice flavor to it.
Near the hotel was a prison. Huge fortress walls and guard towers every 100m or so.
We think Vito Corleone IV is in there.
And finally tonight. Fresh lamb anyone?
And I do mean fresh.
Off to Greek ruins and hopefully some sunshine tomorrow.
Ciao for now. See you before you know it.
PS - We've both decided that you can take it from us, Pass on Palermo. Nothing much to see here.
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