One last comment on Santorini - we spent our final night there at Perivolos beach, and while we were sitting at a restaurant enjoying the view across the water and waiting for our dinner
…. who should come strolling down the road past the restaurant, but Abby (who plays in the same netball team as our girls). I called out her name and she turned round and got the shock of her life! We didn't even know she was in Greece, and so had a fabulous evening catching up on all her travel news. We were destined to meet. She was on the same ferry to Santorini as we were, she was in Oia taking photos of the same sunset on the same evening as us, staying at the same beach – and travelling back on the same ferry the next day! Always a treat to meet someone you know, especially when it was so unexpected. It's a small world … !!Italy …. Sad as we were, it was time to leave Greece and head for our next adventure in Italy . We took an overnight ferry to Brindisi and slept all the way! We took our sleeping bags and mats and pillows on board, and with the aid of a sleeping pill, we both got a good night's sleep! In fact the ferry was just about desserted so there was heaps of room. Our next stop was Sicily - but it was a huge drive from Brindisi to the port where another ferry took us across to Messina in Sicily. It was about 5.30pm by the time we got there and we hunted and hunted for the camp ground but couldn't find it, so decided to chug on round the coast to the next one. We hadn't counted on the long, narrow windy road (we should know better by now!) and it took another hour and half to get there.
The following morning we headed south towards Catania – and decided to take the coast road thinking it would be more attractive rather than just zooming along the motorway. Again … we should have known better! The tiny coastal towns are almost linked one after the other – and the road just winds through the middle of the main street – cars parked everywhere, shops opening right onto the street front, crazy drivers that don't look left or right when they come out of side streets. It took us about 6 ½ hours to drive just over 100km! OK – give up. Time to hit the motorway. And we then covered the next 200km in about 2 hours! However, on the way we wound up to a mountain town called Taormina - beautiful views from the top. Another castle perched above. Apparently an amphitheatre somewhere up there in the ruins, but we were unable to find it. We have found the direction signs in Sicily (and now mainland Italy as well) – absolutely hopeless. We did more U-turns in 2 days in Sicily because we were lost or had missed turns, than we have done in the previous 6 weeks. As you enter a town there can be up to 20 signposts pointing to things – everything from all the hotels to the local hairdresser or fruit shop … but nothing about the major tourist attractions the town has to offer, or even how to leave and find your way to the next destination or back to the motorway!
We found the scenery somewhat boring, and Warwick was finding the driving somewhat stressful, and the ruins and “touristy sights” were all hundreds of miles apart. So we made a decision to see a couple of things we were heading towards the next morning and then hit the motorway all the way back to Messina and mainland Italy again. We stopped first at Noto – a beautiful little town in the middle of no-where – and they have the most amazing baroque architecture. Beautiful little streets, and on one Sunday in May they have a flower festival and decorate a steep street with flowers all made into pictures. Obviously we didn't see this … but we have cheated and taken a photo of what it does look like to share with you! Then we went to Siracusa – and they had power boat racing on the harbour which was fun to watch for a while. After we had explored the town we went in search of the archeological ruins (yes, we had to ask for directions...we were only 2 streets way but with no signs we had no idea....) and they were most impressive. A couple of amphitheatres, other bits of stone and rock …. the usual ruins. But an amazing grotto - really high and went way deep into the rock. And above the amphitheatre at the top of the hill was a waterfall coming out from a cave … at the top of the hill? Couldn't quite figure that one. But in 36 degree heat (no, we're not complaining) – we walked through it all pretty quickly. In Greece they would have had signs on everything explaining when it was built and what it was, pictures of how it would have looked in its heyday, etc. In Italy …. nothing. Quite a shame really.
So .. back on the road again. The motorway this time. Someone had told us that to use the motorways in Sicily is really expensive … well, we went the maximum distance south to north - and it cost 3.40 Euros! We got back to Messina about 4.30 so thought instead of staying the night there we would get back to the mainland. A good plan … except we then made the dumb decision not to stay at the port town but truck north up the coast (on the narrow windy road) a bit further. Unfortunately the towns we went through were like ghost towns. All boarded up. Never saw a soul! It took until 8pm to find accommodation. There were certainly no camping grounds anywhere … no pensionnes, and only one hotel that was outrageously expensive for a tinpot town with not even a restaurant or pizzaria in sight! We ended up having to backtrack down the motorway about 70km to find a town of a reasonable size that might have a hotel! Holiday season ended at the end of August – and everything, hotels, campgrounds, even restaurants all close up and go elsewhere till next June.
OK - so there's a reason why sometimes it's wise not to go too far off the beaten track. Tourist towns may be “touristy” – but that's because there's usually something worth looking at or doing there, and you can find accommodation, restaurants and helpful people there. Time to get out of here and head north .. way north. We hit the motorway this morning and aimed for Paestum - a good tourist town, with archeological ruins, beach, loads of campgrounds. Ha – what a joke! There must be at least 15 campgrounds here and every one was closed!!!!! Even most of the restaurants were all closed up. We had just given up and decided to free camp, when we discovered one open. Yay … I really do prefer a toilet and hot shower!
I've no idea how many kms we covered today … but a long way. The motorways make it so easy – except when you have idiots that ride up your tail – even in long tunnels, because they want to pass you RIGHT now. We can be doing 120kph, and some Fiat Punto ( all 1.3L..) starts flashing his lights and rips past us! Warwick was a bit annoyed yesterday when he was doing 120 UP a hill, and a campervan behind him was closing the gap!!! ( had to speed up to stop that happening!!) There are huge motorways everywhere here … way better than what we have in NZ. Amazing long bridges over valleys, and tunnels through mountains. And yet, they are busy building new ones running parallel to replace existing ones! Why can't we even build Transmission Gully?????
Tomorrow will see us heading further north to Amalfi … and a couple of relaxing days there before we meet Rachel and Felix in Rome.
Very jealous and impressed!
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