Why am I even writing this? Ho hum.
Actually, that was pretty much what I thought of the Wednesday of the holiday…”why am I here?”.
I’m not very good at holidays and day 2 or three is usually pretty stressful. This was no exception.
The day started well with sunshine, the usual fantastic breakfast, and chilling out by the pool. My crisis began when we headed to Avola (the lively town we passed through the day before) for lunch. Turns out that not only does everything in Sicily close from about 12 noon until about 4pm, but most of Avola is being rebuilt. We found somewhere to park, and had we wanted the usual combination of an espresso, cigarette, and some cake, we’d have been fine, but no sandwiches for sale in this thriving town at lunchtime!
We gave up and headed back to a signposted Trattoria near a beautiful gorge called Cava Grande. The gorge was closed due to bad weather making it unsafe, and we weren’t sure if the trattoria was serving food and we didn’t know how to ask.
So it was back to Noto where we picked up Pizza and ice cream and satisfied our appetites.
In the meantime we’ve scraped the hire car’s hubcaps & scratched bumper.
Back at the hotel I’m fuming, angry and frustrated. All my reasons for not liking to holiday abroad have materialised.
Sally is hugely patient – bless her. It takes me a long time to chill out but after a light dinner at the hotel I’m mostly OK.
What did we learn? That Sicily shuts down between 12 and 4 and that Avola is a rubbish place for tourists.
We pray before we sleep that tomorrow – a planned trip up Mt Etna – will be easier.
Link: Part six