33. Sicily, Italy - 11 April to 26 April 2010

Our ferry across to Sicily was appropriately named 'Fantastic', and fantastic it was with a smooth crossing - and how good is it to wake up to a sea view as you motor across the Mediterranean! After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning up on deck, slowly watching Sicily come into sight, with its stunning mountain landscape, followed suddenly by Palermo nestled between the rocky slopes and the sea. It was 9:30 when we entered the port, but midday before we drove the vehicle off the ferry and through customs, having had our passports stamped on board.

We immediately drove 15 km north of Palermo to Isolo Della Femmine, a beautiful seaside village with La Playa campsite very close to the sea and amongst shady olive trees. We ended up staying for 8 nights, relaxing as well as cleaning the African dust out of most of our gear. We walked into the village most mornings to the pasticceria called Valentinas for the tempting pastries, cakes and biscuits, the great coffee and the little tables and chairs outside where you could watch the comings and goings both on the street and in the little boat harbour.

On our first night we had an all inclusive meal at Cavaluccio Marino Restaurant, memorable both for the seafood, which just seemed to keep coming in countless courses, and also for the large group of local Sicilians who seemed to be celebrating either a Christening or a first birthday. The little guest of honour was suitably dressed up for the occasion, as were the parents and guests, and there was a master of ceremonies who also kept the evening alive singing local popular songs, children and adults alike knowing the dance movements in every detail, and joining in throughout the whole evening. It was such a treat to watch the family atmosphere with young children running around the restaurant with complete freedom, playing hide and seek between the tables during the breaks between the dancing.

One day we caught the bus to the outskirts of Palermo, followed by another bus into the historic centre of the city, marked by a beautiful street intersection called the Quattro Canti (Four Corners) with architecturally interesting curved facades on each corner, complete with statues and fountains. From here most of the sights are within walking distance, and we found a nice little restaurant for lunch nearby.

Camping in Europe is proving to be a totally different experience to Africa which is not really surprising. No longer the overlanders in their Landrovers or Landcruisers with roof tents, or the fitted-out trucks. Motor homes are the order of the day, mostly from the Netherlands, Germany and France. They really are complete homes on wheels, with satellite dishes and all the comforts. The camping sites have great facilities, though you often pay extra for hot showers, but who's complaining!! And they even have shops where fresh bread is available daily (we did have that once at Peponi in Tanzania) and I can't believe we are buying local wine in the camp shop decanted into our empty plastic water bottles, and really enjoying it!

From Palermo we travelled along the coast to Erice, a medieval town on a coastal mountain cliff with huge views across the Mediterranean, but even more enticing was the promise of a view to Cap Bon in Tunisia on a clear day. Two thirds of the way up we found ourselves in cloud and caught great aerial glimpses of the Mediterranean coastline, but certainly not Tunisia, and we didn't stay long because although it was very quaint with steep and narrow lanes, it seemed a little too touristy. We also wanted to visit Segesta with its stunning 5th Century BC never-completed Doric temple and another Greek theatre way up on a hill overlooking the beautiful countryside.

We spent that night on the western Sicilian coast at Mazara del Vallo - and our first 'Campiggio Villaggio', the camping villages throughout Italy, with everything that any village should have and more, enough to keep holidaying Italians happy for a week or many months on the Mediterranean without having to venture 'outside'. In April and May they can be a little ghost-townish, with caravans still wrapped up in blue flapping tarps for the winter, and individual campsites cordoned off with scaffolding covered in shade cloth - and most of the village amenities also still in hibernation. But we've managed to get ourselves an off-season camping card, and rates are much more reasonable at this time of year, with plenty of other travellers to chat to from all over Europe.

Selinunte was on our itinerary the next day, and we were surprising ourselves that we still wanted to see Greek and Roman archaeological sites here in Europe. But we were still enjoying the 'journey' so to speak from Africa northwards. Firstly the 'Cradle of Mankind' right throughout the Rift Valley which stretches from Mozambique to beyond the Red Sea, with the finds in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania of human footprints from about 3.2 million years ago, and Lucy's remains in Ethiopia of about 1.2 million years ago. We then thought of the next step of the 'journey' as the 'Cradle of Civilization', with the Egyptian pyramids and Valley of the Kings revealing majestic feats that were possible yet still seem so impossible from this early thriving civilization. And finally we thought we could call the Ancient Greeks and Romans the 'Cradle of Modern Civilization', still fascinating and outshining much of what our modern civilization can achieve today. So here we were heading for Selinunte on the south-western Sicilian coastline and the ruins of yet another ancient Greek city from 628 BC. In the next few days this was followed by the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento further along the same coastline, and the Villa Romana del Casale inland to the north near Piazza Armerina, where a stunning 3rd Century Roman villa has been unearthed to reveal its floor mosaics which were hidden for 700 years, and only discovered in the 1950s. The mosaics cover almost the entire floor of the villa (3500 sq metres) and are unique for their narrative style and themes from Africa. And we had thought we had already seen incredible mosaics in Libya and Tunisia! To our advantage it was also 'Cultural Week' in Sicily and all the sites had free entry, which also meant there were school excursion groups in every direction, but they were entertaining in their own way, and manageable.

After being reminded of the real cost of fuel - A$137 to fill a tank with diesel rather than the A$ 8.50 in Libya - we had a few days in Catania on the eastern coast at Jonio's campsite, just north of this thriving, interesting city. We stayed there six nights and our camp was literally two metres from the sea, looking down from about 6 metres above on the volcanic rock cliff edge, where on a few blustery days we had salt spray on the camper in contrast to the desert sands of Africa. Mount Etna is largely visible from Catania, which was engulfed by the eruption of 1669 when nearly 12000 people lost their lives.

On our last day in Sicily, we drove as far up Mount Etna as we could, fascinated by the evidence of the 2002 eruption, with solidified lava and dead trees taken in its path, and part of the road having to be re-routed. And finally we visited Taormina, another fascinating little village perched high on the top of a hill overlooking the sea, but also a hugely popular tourist destination, with two cappuccinos costing a record 9.20 euros, or about A$13.50!!!. And we visited yet another beautiful Greek Theatre perched even higher than the village and with a spectacular view as a backdrop.

After our quickest and easiest ferry crossing yet which lasted only about 20 minutes, Sicily became the horizon behind us and soon we were motoring along in mainland Italy, eager to get to our campsite at Palmi on the eastern coast.