Aug 29 - how did we get here from there ?

The ferry part was easy.  A short drive from Scilla, pay our Euros (41 or 43), wait in queue a few minutes and then roll on board. The ferry was a good size, two parking levels, dead solid, lots of trucks and cars, services on board .. and a 20 minute trip and we were off-loading.  It runs 24x7 so there's no need for pre-planning although the queue to return was huge.  That probably depends on the day and time; perhaps by the time we leave Sicily it won't be so bad, who knows.

Onto Taormina, not very far but we spent more time getting to our hotel than the drive from Scilla.  After a couple of dead ends, wagging fingers, polite residents reversing to let us get back out, we were despairing of ever getting through the Traffico Limitato zone to hour hotel.  We weren't sure that the hotel was even in a zone where we could drive.  Sure enough, we went past the checkered flag on the Nav without ever seeing the hotel.  In a little parking lot (think 8 cars large) we saw someone pulling out and seized upon the opportunity.  Parking is only for residents though so our intent was to get directions, roll our luggage to the hotel, then come back to the car and take it to a legal parking lot. 

As luck would have it, the hotel sign was right there !  That shows you how useful (not) the Nav is; it thought that we were long past it.  Going inside, the lady at the desk hurried outside and stood in the empty slot right in front of the door until I could move the car.  Our chariot is now parked there with signage on the dashboard indicating the permit.  For 20 Euros per day, I'm not moving !

The Nav had been trying to take us down all these one-way streets the wrong way.  Seeing cars parked both ways we had followed it.  Everyone is so polite when you hit a dead end, i.e. a car facing the other direction.  Inches, or centimeters, take your pick, of room on both sides of the car all the way wherever you go; that's the standard.  Wider and it's good for two cars ... somehow.

So ... we were parked and in our room.  We spent the day wandering through this tourist town.  We've moved from basically Italian-only tourists to many, many from the UK and all over. The prices reflect that as well. 94 Euros for hotel the night before, < 10 Euros for wine in the grocery store; now lots of shops, 130 Euros for hotel (plus parking, of course), 18 Euros for wine (cheapest), no carafe of wine at the restaurant ... you get the idea.  Food, however, is still relatively cheap as dinner was still only 60 Euros, including a bottle of wine that was 1/3 of the total.

The breakfast room in this place is on the top floor, glorious view of the city, the beaches way down below and Mount Etna way above, smoking as usual.  It's an active volcano.  Our intent is to drive up there tomorrow to the 6000' level on the way out of Taormina then perhaps take one of the jeep tours, depending on weather etc.  From internet pictures I see that people also ride mountain bikes up there; pity I don't have one.  Perhaps I could rent ... hmmm.

I didn't mention the wide variation in prices when I was talking about hotels.  The cheapest so far was the five nights at the beginning, 69 Euros including a fabulous breakfast spread, at the Hotel Poli.  Of course that's an area that's normally deserted this time of year due to vacations and I suspect that was also a special rate for the cyclists.    That hotel has been, perhaps, the most upscale and roomy of the lot but it's hard to compare.  They've all been charming ... well .. perhaps the one in Monte Porzi was only charming outside ... yes, that would be correct.  It wasn't charming in the room.  All the others have been charming :).

I think that this morning is levandaria day.  Afterwards we'll take a bus down to the beach and have lunch ... perhaps ... we'll see how it all works out. 

We also need to see if we can Facetime with Emma later on as it's her birthday !

Onward !