Cefalu, Erice and Selinunte.. Sicily.

To the left is me within the Selinunte Ruins looking out to sea which was just soo tempting given the heat in and around the dusy ruins.




And below another view of Selinunte Beach from the top of the hill.. about 2 minutes before I dived in to cool off.



Coraleen at Selinunte ruins.. one day (Maybe) I will be able to furnish more information about exactly what the ruins were all about..



and another of me with the Craggy Rock at Cefalu in the background.





Right is Coraleen with the Craggy rock overseeing Cefalu in the background just to show just how larger than life it really is.








Below is a view of the beach at Cefalu which is right in the middle of town with gorgeous white sand.













These little religious things which seem to be all over the place took my fancy I dont think they have any particular meaning











A picture of Coraleen sitting on the outside wall of the hilltop town of Erice.. just after she thought she was to be abducted as a sex slave by a gun weilding Italian who actuallyturned out to be one of the friendliest Italians we met. Remember it was 47 degrees at this stage and our tempers were beginning to fray.

A view of the ruins at Selinunte from our Hotel balcony . Below is me in one of the bautiful Sicilian churches.. unfortunately my standard of dress in insufficient to be allowed inside so I had to don one of their 'skirts'.







The symbolic belltowers of Cefalu.. they were absolutely stunning in real life. And a view of the belltowers from the main street.



































Driving from East to West along the north coast of Sicily is absolutely amazing, for 100 of the 130k consisted of viaducts and tunnels, some viaducts were more than 1km in the air and the tunnels ranging from 177m to 4,500m. And not just one.. there were two of these.. one in each direction and both two lanes. I guess the Mafia down here make sure the transport is up to scratch for their underground activities although the NZ$11 tolls helps as well of course. I have never experienced anything like this in my life.. sometimes terrifyingly high despite the amazing views below and out to sea the long tunnels certainly made the journey more pleasant not the least being the cooler temperatures in the long, sometimes dark, tunnels.



Cefalu itself is an(other) ancient village dating back to 1131 and sits underneath a large craggy rock (with much of it built into the side of the rock) on the seaside with the most beautiful clear blue and green water you have ever seen. Once again, its another beautiful little village with cobbled streets, old churches and views to die for.





We left the beautiful Cefalu travelling West to Trapani in 47 degree heat! Yes for some reason (probably because we are here) the temperatures are unusually high.. in the high 40s some days ... only to find the Campground had closed and there weren't any. Not to be defeated we visited Erice.. another beautiful hilltop town at the top of about 10kms of very windy roads (not sure how one differentiates windy as in too much wind or windy as in roads that go around and around!!).



And you guessed it.. we got lost again.. bloody women navigators!! We stopped somewhere where parking wasn't allowed and a stranger, in a uniform, with a gun approached us. Coraleen had us locked up as sex slaves for the rest of our lives in a flash.. however we managed to convey the fact we were lost and showed him our map.. he asked us to follow him. And he was actually extremely helpful.. obviously going home for lunch or something.. and directed us to the correct road. A helpful Italian at last.. and a rareity in our travels I must say.
As the temperature rose to 48 with the humidity this beautiful hilltown was lost on us.. all we wanted was to find a campground and some shade. Unfortunately neither was forthcoming.



Travelling further along down the Coast to Selinunte (the Lonely Planet listed it as one of the Top 10 Destinations in Italy) it just seemed to get hotter and hotter! And another closed campground. Tempers were volatile.. the heat repressive .. and with no end in sight we booked into a hotel and not one with a pool as there is no such thing is this small town. I went straight to the beach and stayed in the water for an hour while Coraleen enjoyed the peace and quiet of an airconditioned room!



Selinunte was beautiful with its sandy beach, the only bad thing being it was inhabited by 100,000 Italians with little spare space for a towel. The following morning we visited the oldest Greek Ruins in Italy.. looked just like the Acropolis and by 9am the temperature was, once again, back up to 48.