Day 31. Friday 17th May 2024.
Frascineto, Calabria to Milazzo, Sicily.
Yes….we finally made it to our goal, Sicily 
.
It was a beautiful morning camped by the hills, fresh and warm but with that mountain coolness you would expect. After morning walks for Meg, washing up and showers we left the fab little campsite and headed for the port of Villa San Giovanni for our 20 min crossing.
Before us were 43 tunnels, very high viaducts and a multitude of roadworks, but finally, after 3.5 hrs of driving we arrived at the port!
The day was misty and this shrouded everything in the distance, so we had to get close to the port to actually get a view of Sicily across the strait.
We had never realised that Sicily was so big, it’s the biggest island in the Med actually 
.
As we neared the port, we stopped at a motorway service area for a break and to take pics. A van pulled in behind us with Scottish plates, how funny, the same van had pulled in behind us yesterday at another service area.
Gareth had a chat while they were all puffing, and it turned out they had chosen the coast road yesterday, while we took the motorway. From the sounds of it we had made the right choice. They are on Sicily for a couple of weeks so who knows, we may bump into them again 
.
Anyway, back to the ferry check in. Firstly, the signs for check in disappeared and then we found them halfway down a left turn taken by chance 
, which then led us to a toll booth. We had to take a ticket to raise the barrier, which was then taken by a guy in hi-viz who said – we think – he’ll cancel the charge 
, bless him.
There was a hold up in one of the lanes due to police prison vehicles taking priority. I said to Gareth to be on guard after the French incident as there could be mafia personnel in the van 
.
Once through the toll, we circled around a bit like we knew what we were doing eventually coming round the corner and being directed into a lane for a ferry. No idea if this was our one, as up to that point, no one had checked our ticket
It got checked eventually , just as we moved towards the ferry ramp. We joked that we would then be told we were in the wrong lane and we were getting on the ferry to go some place completely different .
Funny that it’s such a short crossing, but you still have to get out of the vehicle. Meg didn’t like the noise but is much happier when she is with us so came reluctantly up on deck. As soon as we found a seat she hid under it keeping an eye on her humans 
.
Getting off the ferry was just as mad, everyone wants to be first. The guys working are obviously used to it and control everyone with Italian coolness .
Gareth did a great job of navigating the dock roads and getting us onto the Autostrade (motorway) to our campsite – an hour’s drive away.
We’ve decided, for no particular reason, to go around the island anticlockwise. We have a list of places not to miss from Lona and Rex and will factor these in as much as we can with this big van.
Our stop today is at Milazzo. It’s an Agriturismo site called Agriturismo Il Gelsomino Ritrovato with all facilities, cabins and B&B if you need it. There’s a pool too, being cleaned today so maybe open tomorrow.
There’s also a restaurant on site. They use as much of their homegrown produce as they can, so we’ve booked a table for tonight.
We are pitched with a few other campers opposite a field of peach trees . We’ll see what else they offer from their land tonight. You can stay here as a normal campsite for €25 but as we are members of Agricamp we get the first night for €10, I think that’s a bargain .
There’s a beach 500m away, so we walked down there and Meg had fun on the beach. The sea was gorgeous, the colour as the waves broke was amazing but sadly, my phone camera couldn’t quite catch it.
We are now chilling by the van, Parker is having a well earned kip and so is Meg. She’s outside the van which means she feels really chillaxed .
Ah, hopefully the start of a relaxing few weeks .
Leave a Reply