Driving In Italy

Even planning to limit driving to a few hours max,, there simply is not enough time in two days stopover to do “everything”.  Key to enjoying travel is choosing what to do wisely and not cramming too much into a series of whirlwind days.  Take the time to absorb a place and its memories will take root.

I had really wanted to visit Scopello and Castelmarre del Golfo, but realistically there just wasn’t enough time.  Similarly I had wanted to take the hydrofoil from Trapani to Levanzo and  Iisola Favignana, two of the Egadi Islands.  We would have been miserable with the weather that day.  Even walking the Segesta ruins, we agreed if it rained we would turn back.  It rained’’; we kept going.

The drive to Mondello took a bit over an hour.  I passed two cars along the way and was passed innumerable times.  The road and the car were screaming, “go faster”, which I did. Even so, I was one of the slower drivers; one eye on the road ahead and one eye on the upcoming traffic that appeared out of nowhere.

First Experience of Mondello

Driving into Mondello went from pristine highway to narrow streets, cars and motorbikes parked haphazardly, and extremely aggressive drivers (so I thought, then there’s Palermo).  Mondello’s traffic was a step up from Trapani.  I was prepared.

At the Waterfront, Mondello

To successfully negotiate Italian cities, the driver must forget courteously almost all toogether.  There are times when it makes sense, but give an inch and ten drivers will zip buy bumper to bumper.  Be aggressive, it’s safer than being timid!

Mondello

Mondello Waterfront

We rounded a bend and there was the bay with crystal clear water and the mountains dropping in to the sea to our right.  The town of Mondello sits on the left side of the bay.  It is a quaint small resort town.  It has the feel of an old fishing village that still fishes, but discovered that Italian vacationers then foreigners pays better.  Mondello is small with a smattering of trinket shops, supermercati, and restaurants.  In April the town was asleep waiting for tourists to arrive in May.

Local Mini-Market, no 7-11 here!

We walked the town looking for supplies, not finding anything for my developing cold (thanks to that coughing couple on the flight from San Francisco).  In Italy, the local minimarkets stock lots of inexpensive fruit and produce.  All Italians can choose to eat well.

Choosing a restaurant was not difficult as most were closed.  We went back to da Caiogero, the only restaurant that was busy.  Of course I ordered a large beer.  The menu said if an item on the menu is not fresh it is highest quality frozen.  That begs the question, is it fresh?  Our waiter stated unequivocally that the small clams that Ellen ordered and the calamaretti that I ordered were indeed fresh.  I love clams, and Ellen’s were fantastico.  I’ve never had calamaretti, but didn’t bother to ask.  Clearly they’re calamari and etti is an Italian diminutive.  Out came a plate of 1” baby calamari.  I don’t think they were breaded.  They were amazing.

Vongole

Calamaretti

 

We were both so pleased with our order, we re-ordered the appetizers and switched plates. Heaven.

The Water is Amazingly Clear.

Palermo is just around the near point.

For the most part the weather in Mondello was blustery and cloudy.  There was a massive downpour while we ate that cleared up sometime before we left.  There’s something about the way the mountains fall into the sea in Northern Sicily and the color of the water in the shallow bays.  Perhaps it’s my heritage (not Sicilian); I don’t know.  To me this is as good as life gets.

More on Driving

The Idyllic Road before Mistakenly Turning Right into City Traffic

Back at the Volvo, I punched in Villa Igiea’s address and we were off.  Driving in Palermo is like driving the Indianapolis 500 at 30 kph: exhilarating, intimidating, exhausting, frustrating, and big fun rolled up into a traffic jam.  If you like to drive, there’s nothing quite like it.  If you do not, don’t drive Palermo.   At one point, we were sitting in the right of two lanes.  The lane I was in could go right or join with the left lane into a single lane ahead.  I planned to go straight, merging with the car beside me (or beating it to the merge) when a horn sounded in annoyance at being held up.  Intimidation got the bests of me and I turned right to get out of the way.  As I turned I noticed the car behind me stop waiting for the light to change to go straight.  Crap, I missed my “turn”.  Now our Nav took us not down the tree-lined direct route to the hotel, ,but on a very busy circuitous (torturous) route. The Italians are very creative in their interpretation of a “lane”.  Sometimes you think you’re in your lane and oncoming traffic thinks you’re in their lane.  Things sort themselves out quickly.

It was a relief to see the entrance to the hotel on our right and I zipped in.

Villa Igiea, Sofitel

A Room with A (limited) View

The hotel was as I remembered it as we walked into the lobby.  A statuesque Italian woman asked, “Prego” and we checked in.  We had an upgrade into the main building, though on the first floor.  The last time we were here we were on the second in a huge bedroom with an equally huge bathroom, both in Italian marble.  Our room was much more modest.  I tried to have the room changed, but a Phillip Morris corporate event was taking place.  No rooms were available.  It would have been nice to be up another floor just for the memories. The next time we come, I’ll ask for “our” room.  The valet unloaded the car, took our bags to our room, and parked the Volvo.  We would not use the car until we left.

Villa Igiea, Palermo Sicily

Villa Igiea is a historic building built recently in 1908.  The hallways are adored with photographs of famous Europeans who have visited,

We walked the grounds.  What a view we had over the marina, across the Bay of Palermo, to the surrounding mountains, before we collapsed into the  comfort of our room.  It was well into dinner time when we walked back downstairs to the dining level.  The stairway, which we prefer to the elevator, opens into the back of the dining hall.  We walked past guests enjoying their dinner, past the maitre’D (ma no, grazie), and into the bar.  The bar is a classic Italian stone affair with an arched ceiling and arched doorways that lead to a glass enclosed patio.  With the blanks provided the unheated patio was comfortable.  We chose to have a light meal of carpaccio and spaghettino di grano duro alla trapanese  (spaghetti with tomato,, basil, pine nuts) at our patio table.

Villa Igiea’s Marina

The Bar, Villa Igiea

Not Your Typical Bar Food, Pasta Trapanese

Carpaccio Crudo di Carne

We fell into bed, happy for where we are and exhausted from what we had done.

 

Ellen enjoyed our meal at Serisso 47.  She enjoyed the John Dory and thought the desert was fabulous.  Here are a few photos of Serisso 47.  The owner/chef did greet us and present the specials of the day and presented us with a “fish cart” describing the various fish we could select that night.

Serisso 47 is quite appealing inside with its vaulted ceilings

Which Fish would you like, Bream?  John Dory?

Ellen liked the appetizer so much she asked for another! 2 more arrived

Desert mango cream custard with caramelized pistachio nuts

Corso Vittoreo Emanuele at 12:30 AM.

 

Note Lun-Gio 05:30-08:00 and the tow sign!

Viale Regina Elena is the road that runs along the marina and ferry buildings in Trapani.  It has ample pay parking. It is where we parked Sunday for free.  However, the street has restricted parking between 5:30am and 8:00am.  Monday – Thursday the “land” side of the street restricts parking for street cleaning.  The “sea” side restricts parking Wednesdays – Fridays.  Signs state that cars will be towed even if they have a valid parking ticket.

Last night I moved our car from the land side to the sea side so that it would not be towed today, Monday.  This morning I had to purchase a parking ticket before 8:00 am that was good through 10:00, our checkout time.  It is no problem purchasing a ticket at a kiosk. 2 euros is good for three hours.  Getting out of bed and out of the apartment was the problem.

The marina esplanade,

Today was cold and blustery as I exited the apartment.  The car was just as I had left it.  Finding parking on the other side of the street at 7:30 AM was a breeze.  This morning was magnificent.  There were gray storm clouds over the mountains, white billowing clouds closer in, and sun streaming through the clouds where it could. Did I bring a camera or smart phone?  No.

Leaving for Segesta.  Where did everybody go?

I hustled back, grabbed my camera, and hurried back to find the lighting had changed.  I took some photos and walked back a circuitous route.  Today, Monday, all the local cafes were open and overflowing with early morning customers on their way to work.  In fact the streets that yesterday seemed deserted were hard to cross with the cars zooming around, carving a lane wherever they could.

Not packing for the airport makes checking out simpler.  Checkout was as simple as leaving the keys in a hopper by the door and leaving.  We left a tip for the cleaners and 10 euros for the two bottles of surprisingly good wine Alessandra left in the apartment for us.

By now working the Volvo’s Italian Nav system had become “easy”, we sort of.  Most of the directions (all in Italian) are direct enough.  Prepare to turn left. Take the 3rd exit in the roundabout. But every now and then at a crucial juncture out pops a stream of words that to me are indecypherable.

I dialed in “points of interest” Segesta, and off we went.  Italian roads are very well maintained, well designed, and have excellent signage, “mostly”.  It is extremely easy to speed, most Italian’s do and it is not just the guys!  Probably the worst cases of rude drivers cutting me off or getting creative with lanes in the city are women.

On the Road to Segesta at 120 kph.

Driving to Segesta  (SE JEST-a) was fun.  Whether it was the exhilaration of speed, the beauty of the countryside, the ruins of old hilltop villas, or keeping an eye out for the occasional very high speed driver, the drive went by quickly. There was one instance where the Nav system went “bonkers” spewing out a bunch of Italian words.   I was tooling along at 120 kph when the road head branched.  The lane I was in turned right to who knows where.  The left lane headed on to Palermo and Segesta.  II would have turned into the left lane, but a car behind me and in the left lane was closing fast.   I braked well ahead of decision time and noticed that the car behind was making room so I zipped right and off toward Segesta I went.  I only which I knew what the Nav system was “saying” to warn me about that!

We took the turnoff for Segesta (SE JES ta) came up, I took it.  Ellen and I agreed that if it was raining, we wouldn’t “do it”.  The road to the parking lot is twisty, but short.  At the end there were three huge tourist busses parked and a small open gate to get into the parking lot.  In we went and we parked.  The rain that had been off and on, was off.  We popped out, put on our rain gear, and cameras in hand we headed to the biglietteria.  The walk to the temple is up a short trail.  It is a feat of ancient engineering. The temple is more worn and I think it is smaller than Agrigento’s.  The Greek city states and later the Roman Empire were the foundations for modern civilization. For me visiting these relics of antiquity is akin to coming home  (strange, but true).  It stirs my imagination.

Temple of Segesta built ~420 BC by the Elymian people.

Those busses were not for your typical tourist.  They took busloads of middle school children on an outing.  One fellow was giving a lecture to his students in French.  Most others were Italian. In fact nearly all the tourists were Italians.  There were a few German speakers; a few English speakers, but the dominant language was Italian. It felt good to know that the significance of these monuments to Italy’s greatness will not be lost.  Often you will see graffiti scrawled on derelict historic buildings. It is hard for me to comprehend, though I recognize the teen aged rebellion of my youth.

Segesta, the View Walking Back from the Amphitheater

The wild flowers around the temple were in full bloom.  Spring has arrived in northern Sicily.  Did we want to walk to the amphitheater?  It was a 1200+ meter walk.  The Greeks build their amphitheaters high up in hills to be close to the Gods.  I think they were performing for the Gods. I knew the “walk” to the amphitheater would be a slog, and in the rain as well.  The wind blew hard over the ridge sometimes driving the rain hard too.  In some places there were rivers of water flowing down the road and mud to contend with on the trail.   It took a while to reach the theater, which was nestled in a bowl out of the wind.  The French teacher stood center stage and spoke to his students who stood at the top row of the amphitheater.  We could hear every word he spoke, the acoustics are that good in the ancient Greek theaters.   We left him talking to his shivering students as we began our walk down to the car.  The view of the temple from high up in the hill is remarkable.

Spring in Segesta, Sicily

Happy Wife!

The Old and the New.

At the car I dialed in Mondello in the Nav system.  Mondello is roughly 6 km north of Palermo.  Our friend whom we met on the flight into Palermo recommended that we stop there.  We chose to skip Castellammare del Golfo and Scopello, which are off the autostrade and a bit out of the way.