We had a different and unwelcome adventure Thursday evening and into the wee hours Friday. Thursday was fabulous, as I mentioned in the blog posted on Friday. But Thursday night was terrifying. The wind picked up about 7 p.m. and intensified throughout the night. The wind howled and threw the lawn furniture around the yard, blew off the heavy hot tub cover, knocked over large flower pots and pounded against the villa windows and doors. Betsy and I didn’t sleep at all.
A taxi was scheduled to pick Sheri up at 3:45. At 2:30 the power went off, making it difficult to communicate because the internet was down. Getting a signal from either T-Mobile (us) or Verizon (Sheri) on that mountainside was challenging. Without power, there was no way to open the security gate at the end of the driveway and there is no other way out of the villa. I walked around the house until I could get a single bar of service and then messaged the owner of the vacation rental. He lives in the UK, so it was 3 a.m. for him as well. But he answered and told me about a key that could open the gate manually. When the driver arrived, we got the gate open, with debris flying all round us, and Sheri was off to the Catania airport. She later let us know that trees were down in the road all along the route.
Betsy and I tried to rest a little knowing we had a travel day on Friday. The power never came back on, but we managed to pack up and get out by 9 a.m. headed to Siracusa/Ortigia. We also saw the results of the high winds along the way, including on the Auto Strada, which is Sicily’s answer to an interstate.
Renting and turning in cars here can be a challenge. The rental offices seem to always be in the middle of a city with narrow streets, lots of traffic and no place to park. Friday was no exception. I had to double park to turn in the car and drag all of our luggage to the sidewalk for Betsy to watch over it. We managed, though, and I turned in a car with no new scratches or dents. That felt like success.
AIt was a quick taxi ride to our new rental and then an hour wait, but we got into our new apartment. It is sparse, but clean and has a knockout view. However, unlike other rentals, they provide nothing more than linens and some toilet paper. No coffee, no salt, nothing. So, I began looking for a grocery store. We were both so exhausted from no sleep the night prior that Betsy collapsed into the bed. When I got back, I cooked a hamburger for us both and we stayed in for the night. We will make up for that today.
Siracusa is the larger city on Sicily’s southeast coast, with modern neighborhoods, traffic, shops, and was once one of the largest cities in the Greek world. Ortigia, by contrast, is its small historic heart — a compact island connected by bridges. The streets are narrow and limestone-colored, opening onto piazzas and the sea. The water here is that clear, layered blue, so gorgeous.
This morning I’m going to walk to a Mailboxes Etc. office and ship some stuff back to Nashville to make room for stuff we are buying here. We only brought one large suitcase this time because it’s harder for Betsy to carry things due to her injuries. But, the suitcase is big, stuffed and heavy. I’m sending about half of those items home today.
After that, we’ll take a tuk tuk tour to see the island and then get dropped off in a central piazza and visit the Douro and find a nice lunch spot.
Here are some photos of the villa where we stayed near Mt. Etna. We didn’t take many and also some other shots from yesterday. We are going to better taking photos today.
Kim & Betsy 