13 November 2016

Sicily: Navigating the Island

Driving around Sicily is not for the faint of heart...especially when you do not have the option of the autostrade.

The day after our great wine adventure, we decided that we would head to Cefalu, a resort town outside of Palermo. It would be fun, we thought, to cut through the middle of the island. The truth is...there is no easy way to get to Cefalu/Palermo from the Etna region. To take the autostrade would require going back towards Taormina, then skirting the edge of the island -- quite a bit out of the way.
See those little squiggles? Those are all twists and turns. This may not be our exact route...I think we went further west




Off we set on what we thought would just be a few hour drive. We expected to see a few small towns, find a nice restaurant and have a good meal, and soon enough be relaxing in Cefalu.

These asses were blocking our way
What we did not expect was hairpin turns, a harrowing, suck-in-your-stomach trip down a very narrow street on a very high hill, and a bunch of asses in the middle of the road. There were also some crazy drivers that rode our tails for a good part of the way. We found out that what you hear about the drivers in Sicily was true -- they are kind of crazy drivers!

We also ran into quite a bit of construction. They are working on some roads to better connect where
we were to the main autostrade. I am sure everyone who lives in those areas will very much welcome these new roads!

Once we got to the autostrade, we flew to Cefalu (look at that, it rhymes!). The autostrade allows you to go very fast. It is a toll road, so there is a cost, but if you don't want to pay there are other options through the parallel roads. Both J & I were amazed by all these infrastructure projects -- the tunnels were new and efficient, and rather empty.

After our rather insane drive, we were very, very happy when we saw the exit for Cefalu!

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