Sciacca in the sunset with fishing boats
Sunday 25 September
In all we had five nights at Palermo and the Captain cheered up when he managed to reduce the marina price by 15% - it was still more than we have paid anywhere. And it reminded us of a cryptic comment Bruce had received by email on MedNet 'you will find the difference between the prices in Sardinia and Sicily amusing' - naively we thought Sicily was going to be cheaper. I have also decided I quite like the French (apologies to my son-in-law and my lovely French friend, Michele).
We had a lovely evening at the grand hotel and enjoyed our trip to the beach in the hotel bus on Thursday and we even managed some more sightseeing in Palermo but absolutely appalled by the filth and rubbish everywhere and whereas normally the old part of any city is the most fascinating in this case it was poverty stricken and squalid.
Set sail again on Friday morning, after our lovely crew left us, back towards Trapani and spent the night at San Vito lo Capo where, if you can believe this, an international couscous festival was taking place. And the first town we have visited that was clean and tidy, but also heaving with people enjoying the festival, and with reportedly one of the best beaches in Sicilia, which needless to say was hard to spot for sunbeds, umbrellas and bodies.
Saturday night was spent in Marsala. A kind Frenchman gave us a lift to a supermarket to buy provisions, and a bottle of Marsala of course, but without Wally we didnt have any enthusiasm for exploring and the guide book didnt rate it very highly anyway.
Left this morning for Sciacca and arrived in rain and a strong southerly wind which made mooring the boat very 'interesting' and I am sure Heather will be very pleased she missed it. We very much liked the look of Sciacca but being Sunday evening everything was closed. The Captain thought it was rather clever of him to have avoided any shopping. The harbour was absolutely full of large fishing boats and we spent the night rocking and rolling as they went out and came back in again.
In all we had five nights at Palermo and the Captain cheered up when he managed to reduce the marina price by 15% - it was still more than we have paid anywhere. And it reminded us of a cryptic comment Bruce had received by email on MedNet 'you will find the difference between the prices in Sardinia and Sicily amusing' - naively we thought Sicily was going to be cheaper. I have also decided I quite like the French (apologies to my son-in-law and my lovely French friend, Michele).
We had a lovely evening at the grand hotel and enjoyed our trip to the beach in the hotel bus on Thursday and we even managed some more sightseeing in Palermo but absolutely appalled by the filth and rubbish everywhere and whereas normally the old part of any city is the most fascinating in this case it was poverty stricken and squalid.
Set sail again on Friday morning, after our lovely crew left us, back towards Trapani and spent the night at San Vito lo Capo where, if you can believe this, an international couscous festival was taking place. And the first town we have visited that was clean and tidy, but also heaving with people enjoying the festival, and with reportedly one of the best beaches in Sicilia, which needless to say was hard to spot for sunbeds, umbrellas and bodies.
Saturday night was spent in Marsala. A kind Frenchman gave us a lift to a supermarket to buy provisions, and a bottle of Marsala of course, but without Wally we didnt have any enthusiasm for exploring and the guide book didnt rate it very highly anyway.
Left this morning for Sciacca and arrived in rain and a strong southerly wind which made mooring the boat very 'interesting' and I am sure Heather will be very pleased she missed it. We very much liked the look of Sciacca but being Sunday evening everything was closed. The Captain thought it was rather clever of him to have avoided any shopping. The harbour was absolutely full of large fishing boats and we spent the night rocking and rolling as they went out and came back in again.
Monday 26
Took us just over 7 hours to get to Licata and a beautiful day again until now. It is absolutely tipping down but we are in a new marina where they have been so helpful and it has been such a refreshing change. AND we have wifi for the first time since Olbia so I am very happy and a great supermarket no distance away. I have just been looking at the forecast for the next few days which does not look particularly promising for our crossing to Malta until Friday. We were planning to get to Ragusa by Tuesday from where we will cross to Malta. Ragusa town (20km from marina in land) is a UNESCO world heritage site and we are planning to make a trip there.
Hi You still sound if you are enjoying your life on the boat and sightseeing. Hope your crewe got home safely and enjoyed themselves (I am sure they did). Palmero just sounds like the UK with rubbish etc. Vince says thanks for his birthday wishes much appreciated. Yes we had a good holiday could have fallen out with my Mum some of the time but it helped having Vince's sister there. Hope the weather isn't too bad for your crossing to Malta and the trip to UNESCO sounds very interesting.
ReplyDeleteTake care with your crossing to Malta.
Love Kathryn & Vince x