Tuesday June 16

We left Taormina at 9:30 and drove to Catania airport - the drive was relatively easy until be got to airport where traffic congestion and poor instructions from both Google Maps and Apple Maps to the rental car drop-off; however we made it. We walked over to the airport terminal to find the bus stop for our bus to Palermo. Finding the bus stop was easy as there is a major bus exchange right outside the terminal. However the 45 minute wait for our 12:10pm bus was 1.5 hours, the last 45 minutes in the blazing sun where the crush of people trying to get on different busses made it look like an Iraq market on a bad day. Our bus was totally full but once it got on the way we arrived around 3:25pm. Since the bus station in Palermo is at the train station we found a taxi right away. It was about 15 minutes and 20 EUR to our "luxury" apartment.

On arriving at the building our hearts sank - it looked about one step up from a crack house. The lift looked like a post-war Soviet one but somehow it made it to the fourth floor. The apartment was quite OK but not what I would call luxury. Neither of us could figure out why we did not booked a hotel since our stay is only 3 nights.

Anyway we dropped our bags and set out for the closest grocery store, The Family Market open 24 hours. Expecting a mini-mart we were pleasantly surprised to find a full on grocery store of a high standard. While walking to the store (200m) we discovered our apartment is very close to a main street with high end shops so I guess our neighbourhood is OK.

We decided to go a high-end sky bar in a nearby hotel - the bar (which also serves food) was hopping mainly with Yanks on a tour. We had a glass of wine but decided to forget about eating there as it was so busy. We went to a nearby restaurant that Dieter had sussed out and since it was now after 8pm just had a pasta and a glass of wine. Then it was home to bed.

Wednesday June 17

We kicked off with our usual holiday apartment breakfast (fruit and yoghurt) then decided to get an overview of the main city site by taking one round on a hop-on/off bus - this took just over an hour and was good - the bus stopped for 5-10 minutes at 2 of the main points of interest so we could hop off, take a few photos and hop back on. On the way back to our apartment we did some grocery shopping planning to dine at home for the next 2 night.

We then did a self guided walk around all the points of interest - over 2 hours but very interesting.

Thursday June 18

We took a half-day trip Cefalu about 1 hour away by train. We took an Uber to the train station ($26) then caught the 9:31am train - it was packed to the gills; unfortunately the aircon did not work for the first 30 minutes - then it finally came on. 

The town (often described as one of the prettiest in Italy) was really lovely we walked all around taking in the duomo including the (paid) visit to the towers. Down at the water front we stopped for a light lunch at a seaside cafe. We then headed back to the city.

When we got off the train we decided to walk home, an estimated 30 minutes but with a few wrong turns and it took over an hour.

By the time we got home it time to start the pack up / clean up for our departure on Friday. We stayed home for a quick sambo for dinner while polishing off the adult beverages.

Friday June 19

Off to Munich today - see next item.