We left the hotel in Palermo this morning after breakfast. We walked to Palazzo Reale-Orleans train station and caught the 10.30 train to the airport.
We went to the Alamo car rentals desk and checked in for our pre-booked car. We collected it in the car park, it's a grey Fiat 500 Hybrid. We then drove out of the airport and headed east past Palermo and along the coast.
At Cefalù we found a free parking spot at the seafront. We planned to walk up to the castle on top of the rock behind the town
First we walked along the promenade to the old part of the town.
We stopped in the piazza by the church and bought some local food for lunch: a caprese salad panini and a fried chickpea and potato sandwich.
We then started our climb up the rock. You have to go through a gate, pay 5 euros and get clocked in so they know nobody is left up there at the end of the day.
There are various levels of walls and fortifications as you go up. It starts off as a staircase then becomes more of a rough path.
There are views down to the rooftops of the town below.
Finally we got to the ruined castle at the top.
We walked back down the hill and made our way to the car.
We had about a 3 hour drive to get to the apartment we'd booked in Catania on the east coast of Sicily. The satnav took us east along the coast then inland heading south.
The roads were some of the worst we've seen anywhere, with loads of bumps, potholes and ramps. I don't know if it's because of earthquakes, landslides of just general dilapidation, but it made it a very long, slow journey.
By the time we got to Catania it was dark. We bought provisions at a Lidl supermarket, then drove into the city. It was a bit scary, dealing with Sicilian driving in the rush hour and not really knowing where we were going.
However we found a parking place near the apartment without incident, and met our host there. The outside of it is a bit rough looking but inside it's fine, albeit with not much natural light.
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