Day 79: Thursday 5 June – Our First Taste of Sicily, by Ken

We both woke shortly before the alarm was due to wake us at 05:30. There was a pink glow in the sky to the east and then an orange sun slowly rose over a calm Tyrrhenian Sea. The sea was like a millpond and it was doubtful there was any need for Jane to have taken her sea sickness pills. We both had a reasonable nights sleep although both were awake for a while during the night with the throb of the ships engine’s making it a struggle to get back to sleep.

Sunrise Over The Tyrrhenian Sea

After being worried last night that we were both going to bang our heads on the upper bunks, I realised that they folded upwards giving an unobstructed space above the lower bunks! After showering – the shower area was smaller than Mabel’s, we packed our backpacks and walked to reception to hand our key in. Jane stayed there while I went outside aft to watch the sunrise and Sicily come into view. About 2 km behind I could see the shape of the Grandi Navi Veloci ferry that had followed us out of Naples last night, it seemed to be following our wake.

The Top Bunks Fold Up!

Early Morning on the MV Vincenzo Florio

Our First Glimpse of Sicily

We berthed in Palermo at exactly 06:30 after a very smooth manouver involving turning the ship around and reversing to the dock, there was no hint of a bump as we came alongside. As time passed Jane began to fret that the doors to the escalator to the vehicle deck remained firmly closed. She wondered whether perhaps we should look for another way down. After a while a smartly dressed crewmember opened the doors and started the escalator, but was not allowing anyone to go down. Below we could hear the rattling of chains as the trucks were unshackled, but still we were not allowed down. At 7:00 the crew member finally stood aside and we descended into what seemed like hell. Most of the trucks had their engines running and those at the bows were starting to move. We had decided the previous evening that Mabel and Smarty would have to disembark separately as we had to leave through the stern and Mabel was facing forward nose to nose with a truck facing aft. We quickly unhitched Smarty managing to drop the A-Frame on my toe in the process.

Jane got into Smarty and I climbed into Mabel. I programmed her satnav to take us to Isola delle Femmine, a town approximately 20 km along the coast. Then all hell broke loose, the orderly and well directed loading process of last night was replaced by absolute chaos. It was every truck for itself, the truck in front of Mabel started pulling out but stopped with the driver indicating he needed another foot, or so, to clear Mabel. Her reversing camera came into its own at that point, I inched backwards with Smarty in view and then Jane reversed out of sight. The truck ahead started moving again, but was stopped by the shouts of fellow truckies as the swing on the very long trailer was about to take out the cab of a truck alongside. He was marshalled clear by the other truckies and then the driver alongside motioned for me to go in spite of a steady stream of trucks heading for the bow ramp. I started executing a U-turn and caught a glimpse of Smarty disappearing down the ramp. A truck gave way enabling me to finish the turn and head off down the ramp. Jane and Smarty were there waiting on the dockside where we hitched up again.

We were right by the exit from the port into the heart of Palermo, all the other traffic from the ferry had gone. The chaos of disembarkation was soon replaced by the chaos of Palermo’s early morning rush. It was our first experience of driving in an Italian city this trip and we had forgotten how challenging it was. Cars and scooters were everywhere weaving around us and trying to cut across our path at intersections. Then we remembered from last time that Italian drivers have good judgment and spatial awareness and what seems like a dangerous weave in front of you is actually a well-judged manouver. And vehicles drifting out of side roads in front of you are playing a form of ‘chicken’ to see if you will give way to them. After a while the antics of the traffic around us became entertaining, rather than frightening (although Jane didn’t always feel the same way).

A truck pulled alongside us at traffic lights, the guy in the passenger seat was beaming, he pointed back towards Smarty and gave the thumbs up. Our towing arrangement does attract a lot of interest.

The chaos of central Palermo gave way to much more orderly traffic on the motorway heading west along the coast. We cruised comfortably for a while before leaving the motorway and heading into the town of Isola delle Femmine. There we picked up signs to ‘Camping La Playa which led us down narrow streets with cars parked on one side. Often there was only just room for Mabel to squeeze through. Eventually, we reached the beach front road and spotted a park long enough for Mabel and Smarty.

We ate breakfast watching early morning joggers going backwards and forwards along the road. A woman pedestrian stopped by our open window and asked where we were from. She was disappointed it wasn’t the UK (she had spotted the ‘GB’ on Mabel’s number plates. She said she had lived in Wolverhampton, in English with a thick Italian accent. She cheered up when we told her we used to live in Birmingham.

There was a street market just along the road from where we were parked. Jane, of course, had to visit and I was happy to wander through at my own pace. Among a lot of stalls selling clothes there were numerous food stalls, one with an impressive selection of fish, others loaded with fruit, vegetables and nuts. There was also a stall with Gucci handbags manned by a gentleman of dark complexion – we had seen his mates in Barcelona and elsewhere selling the same stuff on our last trip.

Jane in the Street Market, Isola delle Femmine

Cheese and Salami Stall

A short distance beyond the market was Camping La Playa where we planned to spend two nights. It was still only mid-morning but we went in and asked if we could move in. We could and returning with Mabel. I spent 15 minutes being told about the many rules of the camp site, how the plastic token for the showers was to be used, what was available in the shop, be sure to attend the evenings talk on what to do in Palermo to be given at 19:15 ‘exactly’ in English by the receptionist’s sister, and more! Finally free to enter I approached the barrier with Mabel to be stopped by the receptionist who said I hadn’t told her about our car and it would be another €2 per night for Smarty. That’s the first time we have been charged extra for her.

All Set Up, Camping La Playa

Pitches in the camping ground were constricted by olive trees and I managed to graze Mabel’s roof on a branch. It didn’t look serious and I’m pretty sure the mark will polish out if only I can get up there! I did climb the ladder onto the roof to check her out but wasn’t convinced the roof was designed to carry my weight.

After lunch of bread, cheese and salami we drove into the town in search of an ATM to top up our Euro. There we saw a Smart car with three occupants – a man was driving and there were two women in the passenger seat!

The afternoon was spent on a beach a kilometre, or so, west of the camping ground. It was very hot and we made use of the beach umbrella purchased in Spain two years ago to give us some shade. I slept for a good part of the afternoon – I think we underestimated how tiring driving more than 2,000 km down through Europe would be. Jane managed two dunks in the sea to my one – my first of the trip. The Tyrrhenian Sea wasn’t as warm as we remembered swimming off he coast of Italy, but then we were here about a month earlier than last time. Loud music was blaring from a nearby bar. It was an interesting mix including Otis Redding, Lorde and lots of modern dance music with reverberating base notes. Much to Jane’s surprise I enjoyed the music. There were the usual assortment of beach sellers carrying their boards laden with sunglasses, jewelry and much more. Most left us alone.

Beach Seller

Beach Taken With Jane's Waterproof Camera

Another of Jane's Shots

All Shapes and Sizes on the Beach

Back at the camping ground I had first shower using an unnecessarily complex process that was described on a notice outside – this camp site really loved its notices! It involved selecting a vacant cubicle, noting the number on the door, leaving your towel there, going outside to a machine on a wall. There you inserted a plastic token that was punched to denote how many showers you had taken at €0.50 per shower. Following that two green buttons were used to select the number of your cubicle (very difficult to do with bright sunlight on the electronic display) which you then confirmed by pushing a red button. The notice warned that the shower would start 10 seconds after the red button was pressed but could be suspended for a minute by pressing a red button in the cubicle. Finally, the shower would run for 4 minutes. The shower was actually quite good. I returned to Mabel, gave Jane the token and explained the procedure. The technophobe in her wasn’t keen and, in any case, she would have to wear her glasses to operate the machine. I walked back to the showers with her and operated the controls while Jane shouted out her cubicle number and confirmed she had water running.

After the excitement of the showers I bought 24 hours of wi-fi access and tried again to download the Europe camper map. There was no access from our pitch, but I could get the internet sitting on a wall in the shade closer to reception. It started from scratch and was going to take hours to download, I abandoned the attempt for the day. We attended the 19:15 talk on Palermo. Very informative, with good maps and details of the best train stations to use to visit the various sights in Palermo. After that we returned to Mabel to plan our trip into the city tomorrow and eat dinner – some of the cowboy casserole remaining from earlier in the week.

Today's Trip (19km)