Day 4: Cefalu

 September 21, 2023: A leisurely start this morning had us waking up and grabbing a cappuccino at a

local cafe before walking to the parking garage to get the 'bigger car.' It was about 10am when we started out.

Our original plans regarding Messina got derailed, but we figured we'd start the 3 hour journey there anyway and stop into the town of Cefalu for a couple of hours of beach time. Hmmm.

Traffic getting out of Palermo wasn't traffic at all, but normal and harrowing! We failed to really capture it, but here are some rules: there aren't any. Scooters dominate, stop signs at intersections are non existent, the boldest vehicle wins, cars park anywhere (on corners, double parked, middle of the street), no one pulls over for emergency vehicles and there is no structure to the maze of streets within the city. I thought I couldn't wait to get onto a freeway, but oh how wrong I was!

Back to the car... HYBRID! So, we clued into the battery indicator light which was showing 2% after getting on the freeway. No idea what that meant, but it seemed concerning? As we tried to research it, the car began to slow and wouldn't respond to the accelerator. I tried to push a button with a little gas pump picture on it thinking that would switch to gas-only, but nothing happened. Made it to an off-ramp and parked while we tried to call Drivalia, the Italian rental company. Several attempts got us an Italian woman who really had no idea what our problem was and indicated we should drive (?) to the nearest Drivalia location... nope. After some frantic button pushing (because that's how you figure things out!), I found the 'e-save' button which apparently operated the car on gas while charging the battery. The car started up and we were off again.

We drove for awhile and did our best to figure out the toll plaza situation: you get a ticket dispensed while on the highway, then when you exit the highway, you pay. The catch is that there are different lanes for in-person toll taking, self-serve tolls and Telepass (like Fastrak) lanes. We picked the wrong lane a couple times and had to yell for help to continue...Also discovered that the car doesn't like it when you open the door (to reach the ticket dispenser). It simply wouldn't go after that and seemed like the emergency brake was on. Had to turn it off and restart it! This car! 

About an hour of driving brought us to Cefalu, a cute little town on the ocean where tourists and Sicilians alike go for some sand and clear ocean water fun. The beach is split into sections, each with a name, where you rent a beach chair and umbrella. We spent the next couple of hours enjoying the sun and water while people watching the older speed-clado man, an ultra skinny ultra sun-browned older woman, young couples and families doing the same. 

We got back in the car, planning to make it another 2 hours to Messina where we had a hotel for 1 night. That idea quickly derailed. Just getting out of the parking lot caused some stress with cars behind us and

the vehicle doing that same thing with the open/closed driver door and not wanting to go! The start/stop trick didn't work and it took awhile to get going again with cars waiting behind us. Immediately ahead was a decision about which split in the Y to take. We went the wrong way and had a 10 mile distance to drive before we could turn around again! Decision made! We got online and booked a room just outside of Cefalu for the night. It ended up being a great spot in a tiny town that unexpectedly had an outdoor craft cocktail spot next door. Yay! 

We bedded down for the night and I had plans to take Tom down the East Coast of Sicily the next day for a surprise.