{"id":4640,"date":"2016-05-05T04:36:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T18:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=4640"},"modified":"2026-05-12T07:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:52:29","slug":"crawling-along-northern-sicily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2016\/05\/05\/crawling-along-northern-sicily\/","title":{"rendered":"Crawling Along Northern Sicily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The element of surprise can often be wonderful. And sometimes not\u2026\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\"My
My boat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAre we in Scotland or Sicily?\u201d These were the first words Rodney uttered on Tuesday morning as the rain crashed down on Eileen\u2019s roof and she swayed with every huge gust of wind.\u00a0 I peeked through the curtains and could see white horses riding the ocean and Spring leaves being ripped from the trees.\u00a0 We stayed in bed and cancelled today.<\/p>\n

\"On
On the \u2018beach\u2019 at Camping Rais Gerbi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well we didn\u2019t cancel the whole day. \u00a0 When the rain eased for a short while, we walked down to the \u2018beach’ and then along the main road into the deserted town of Finale.\u00a0 We found a caf\u00e9 open and I enjoyed my first cup of thick Italian hot chocolate with a ricotta cream cannoli.\u00a0 Delicious.<\/p>\n

\"Coastline
Coastline drive to Cefalu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Wednesday morning, the rain and the crazy wind suddenly stopped and the sun came out in all its glory.\u00a0 We drove along the coast to Cefalu and parked in the enormous carpark on the sea front.\u00a0 \u201c\u20ac15 please, but you can stay for 24 hours\u201d, \u201cyes and you can sleep in the van over the night\u201d.\u00a0 So we did.\u00a0 But first, a climb up La Rocca looked like it could be good training for Rodney\u2019s next trip to Nepal.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need to be in training; I\u2019m not going to Nepal.\u00a0 But I dragged myself up that steep hill with him and soaked up the lovely views from the ruined castle at the top.<\/p>\n

\"Cefalu<\/p>\n

The Temple of Diana amongst the purple thistles<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The beach at the old town, Porto Pescara<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Duomo and old town from the sea front<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We ate a tasty lunch at a rather breezy waterfront restaurant in the old town and then ambled through the grid of narrow roads back to Eileen for a Nanna nap.\u00a0 When the town came back into life, we promenaded back along the sea front and had a drink with a slice of pizza in the Piazza Duomo and watched the setting sun turn the western front of the cathedral a lovely golden yellow. After watching the sun sink into the sea, we had another drink in a wine bar and through the window watched the sea slowly turn to black.<\/p>\n

\"The
The sun setting on the Duomo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Leaving
Leaving Cefalu on Thursday morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We slept long and heavily in the beach car park and when we left the next morning, we noticed we were surrounded by campervans from Slovenia, Italy, France, Serbia, Austria and another Brit; what a multicultural enclave!<\/p>\n

There are signs along the autostradas that state \u2018Turn on your lights on the motorway\u2019, but no-one does; this is Italy.<\/p>\n

Having driven along most of the north coast, we now know that it is a continual series of bays, large and small, and the mountains and hills stand sentinel over each bay and reach down to touch the sea in so very many places.<\/p>\n

When we turned off the autostrada at Castellammare del Golfo, the scenery changed quite dramatically and we zigzagged our way up towards San Vito Lo Capo.\u00a0 The village of Castelluzzo sprawled along the main road and reminded us more of Mexico than Italy, a real one-horse town, although we never did see a single horse.\u00a0 We did see the Restaurante Sombrero and when we arrived, a little further on at the campsite, we could hear a donkey creating one helluva racket in a field nearby.<\/p>\n

\"The
The view over Castellammare del Golfo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Camping El Bahira, four stars apparently, hmmmm.\u00a0 We had briefly thought about staying for a few nights, it\u2019s set in a very scenic area, but it\u2019s a strange place.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t really a beach and the rocks are covered with poo from the sheep that wander across it.\u00a0 The two toilet blocks are spectacular, although the enormous line of mirrors is set at least 5 feet 6inches from the ground; I can\u2019t think of many women who could use them.\u00a0 Then there is only one block of showers working and they are terrible.\u00a0 They consist of cubicles, outdoors, behind the loos; no roof, just walls and mouldy concrete floors and they are for men and women, no segregation.\u00a0 You have to select one, put your towel etc. inside, then go back outside to put a blue plastic stick in a machine and press the number of the cubicle you want to use.\u00a0 The \u2018warm\u2019 water immediately starts to flow down the drain, while you dash back, lock the door, take your clothes off and then get only two minutes of water.\u00a0 When the two minutes are up, it immediately stops, there is no way of turning it on to get more water.\u00a0 We had been told we had five minutes of hot water, so I was well soaped up when the water cut out and boy did I curse.\u00a0 Then I remembered that, a few cubicles down, there were some showers that had only cold water, so I grabbed my towel and ran naked to one of them to rinse off in freezing water under a chilly sky.\u00a0 It was not a good look for a nearly 60-year-old woman, though I do hope the man who was sitting nearby enjoyed the sight.\u00a0 A quick dash back to my cubicle to dry off and get dressed, left me angry, annoyed, frustrated and teary.\u00a0 You can\u2019t even put the token back in again, as you\u2019re only allowed one shower each per day.\u00a0 There\u2019s also only one washing machine functioning for the whole campsite, so our fingers are crossed that we can get to use it in the morning; we have sheets, towels and a pile of clothes that need washing.<\/p>\n

\"It
It is definitely not Bondi Beach….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the swimming pool.\u00a0 It looks lovely, with a plentiful amount of very smart sunbeds.\u00a0 But when we wandered down there, an ugly rope was tied around the pool.\u00a0 Unbelievably, the pool is closed all afternoon, every day.\u00a0 You cannot go in the water between 1pm and 4pm.\u00a0 The only time of day when it\u2019s warm enough to want to go in!!!!\u00a0 When the lifeguard decided to re-open at 4pm, two Dutch chappies had already dived in and he told them to get out immediately because they weren\u2019t wearing swimming caps.\u00a0 I cannot work out how a campsite can have disgusting showers and yet worry about a hair in the swimming pool.\u00a0 The lifeguard looked like\u00a0Kojak with his very shiny bald head and we wondered if he puts a cap on, if he has to dive in and save someone.\u00a0 I also noted that he locked away all the lifesaving equipment when the pool was closed, which struck me as highly dangerous, surely that\u2019s when it should be available.\u00a0 What a place\u2026\u2026!<\/p>\n

\"But
But there was a lovely sunset that evening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The element of surprise can often be wonderful. And sometimes not\u2026\u2026   \u201cAre we in Scotland or Sicily?\u201d These were the first words Rodney uttered on Tuesday morning as the rain crashed down on Eileen\u2019s roof and she swayed with every huge gust of wind.\u00a0 I peeked through the curtains and could see white horses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8430,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4640\/revisions\/8430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}