We’re on the last leg of our month-long Italian adventure with eight days of independent (i.e. we’re responsible for getting ourselves from point A to B and no more “Whisper” listening devices to hear a guide) travel. Today we took a taxi from the Liberty Hotel in Catania to the airport where we picked up a rental car. What a debacle! The car rental companies are crowded into a building separate from the terminal. The crowd of weary travelers outside the building was an ominous sign of the chaos within. Just as in Rome, you take a ticket with a number designating your place in line – #88 was my number and the signboard indicated that customer #34 was being helped. And there were only four sportelli (service desks) open! Since it seemed to take at least 30 minutes to finish one transaction, it appeared that we were in for a looooong wait. The gods must have been smiling down on us because a young man offered us a lower number- #71! After about two hours, our number was called. Second problem – we did not bring the correct credit card (i.e. credit card with the name of the driver) so my prepaid voucher couldn’t be used and we were out an additional 388 euros. We ended up with a VW Polo small four-door hatchback, more car than we really needed. Once we figured out how to open the hatch and how to get the car into first gear, we were off to Ortigia, near Siracusa. Since we were just there less than a week ago and we scouted out the location of the apartment and more importantly the garage, we felt pretty confident- until we encountered the hurricane- like wind and rains hitting the southeast coast of the island. Areas of the road were covered with up to three feet deep water!
The apartment host met us at the garage entrance, the car was whisked away and we walked five minutes to the apartment. Typical of Italian apartments, at least three keys are necessary to gain entry, and at least one key is of the dreaded “skeleton” type. It took some practice and manipulation but we figured out how to open the cancello (gate entrance). Curtigghiu apartment is a comfortable small one bedroom with a kitchen (that I definitely will not use).
We ventured out for a walk but the winds were fierce! I now can empathize with Weather Channel reporters who cover hurricanes! There had to be gale force winds of greater than 50 mph.
At 8:30 pm, we met Christina (and Giuseppe) for dinner at Macallè Sicilian Bistrot. We spent two hours reminiscing with my Russian friend (we met at Salerno last year) and getting to know Giuseppe.
Photos to be added when I have better WiFi.
Camino Musings 