Arrivaderci, Sicily

We spent the night at a rest area on the north coast (starts with a T; where the Black Madonna is located (which we decided to skip)) and then drove on into Messina to catch the ferry back to the mainland.


We had thought about taking one of the excursions out to

Stromboli and the other volcanic islands north of Sicily; but

they don't begin running until April; we think this may be

Stromboli pictured above; if not, some other island in the

Tyrrhenian Sea



Sicily's northern coast: more hill-top villages, more tunnels

and bridges



Have you ever been in a traffic jam, creeping along, on an

interstate, and every now and then some jerk comes whizzing

by, passing everybody, in the emergency lane? And you

wonder, where are the cops? Well, in this case, the cops were

waiting for the jerks, and nailed them. The traffic jam, a couple

miles in length just outside Messina, was caused by the

need to merge two lanes into one. In Sicily, and southern Italy

generally, this requires encounter and confrontation by each

and every pair of merging vehicles. If you let one in, then you

will have let in the next five or so until someone else finally

loses his [sic] nerve or pauses to light another cigarette.

Romanians are generally said to be the worst drivers in
Europe. Italians drive like Romanians on steroids (as Vicki
says).



And so we are back on the ferry, crossing the Straits of

Messina; alas, I did not even get the name of the vessel



That's because I was lashed to the mast, so

as not to be influenced by the Sirens, the

Whirlpool, Charybdis and Scylla, and other
local perils



Farewell, Sicily, tunnels and bridges, and crazy drivers



We much enjoyed our time with you