To Sicily

Wednesday October 22, 2008 

This morning we headed south to our final week in Italy in Sicily. The trip down to the ferry across the Strait of Messina took us first along the coast for about 100 miles. The coast in this area of Calabria is nice, but not as pretty (the terrain is relatively flat) or difficult to drive as the area around Maratea so we made good time. We connected up with the Autostrade for the last part of the trip to the Reggio Calabria area where the ferries for Sicily dock.

The ferry ride was cool and breezy for the 30 min trip to Messina. From there we headed to Mel’s favorite city in Sicily, Milazzo, so she could get her picture taken in front of a town sign. (For those who do not know, that is her maiden name). We were surprised that the area we saw was quite nice since the guide books have nothing good to say about the city. There is no known family relationship to the city other than the name so we went on to our final destination, Cefalu’.

The ride across Sicily along the north coast was always close to or in sight of the water. Sicily is mountainous, so there were also numerous tunnels as we moved from east to west. Cefau’ is a pretty (I don’t know if it is a top 37 or not), old city which is a favorite among tourists who come to Sicily. We picked it due to its central location on the coast and we are in a spacious apartment in the old part of the city. We met Mary Ellen’s cousin Brian and his wife Susie and daughter Rachael here and will to spend time with them this week. Tomorrow, we will pick up Mel’s sister Jane when she arrives in Palermo in the morning.

Ciao
Tom