October 17 - Not the Adventure We Were Expecting!

 Today we planned to drive into the Sicilian mountains and visit a couple of mountain villages.  Our research showed that some of them had great vistas of the valleys between the mountain peaks. I started taking photos as we drove.  I used a very fast shutter speed - but even then it was hard to anticipate when a group of trees or grasses would pop up.

We saw a lot of hills that looked like this.  We were thinking that all this area was terraced at one time.  There was a lot of farm land in the valleys between the hills.

Everything started very smoothly - until we got a warning that two of the tires on our rental car were low on air!  We've only had the car for two days and only drove to one city!  Michael is thinking something is seriously wrong with the tires - and since he had once ignored that warning on his own car and a few days later blew out the tire going 70 mpg - he was taking it seriously.  

So as soon as we could get off the toll road and turn around we did.  But very shortly we saw a gas station and stopped for help.  The attendant could not have been nicer.  There was a car waiting in front of us for the same services so he helped him first and then us.  OK - back on the road heading for the mountain village of Polizzi Generoso.  

The road to Polizzi Generoso was very twisty and turney and had many hairpin turns, but it was nice and wide and had barriers on the steep side.  We made it to the town without any problem.  We passed on a fairly large parking area.  There were no signs saying "tourist - park here" so we kept going following the arrows pointing towards the center of town.  We made it to the top and were going to go into a promising area to park in - but their was a barrier on one side of the road with an arrow pointing in another direction.  Oh how I wish we had just ignored that sign!

Because suddenly we were going down the hill.  There were no signs saying "tourist - take this road to get out of town".  There were no arrows pointing this is the right way.  And we were on one lane only roads with houses/stores on either side.  We found ourselves on a very narrow road - looking down a side street we could see one of the blue arrows pointing on that road in the opposite direction.  But how do we get there?  That road down was even narrower than the one we were on - and it was perpendicular to the road we were on.  There was no way our car could make it around that corner.  

Michael stopped the car.  I got out and scouted ahead - all streets ahead on the left and right were dead ends - straight ahead of us was a dead end.  I headed back the way we had come - and noticed that everyone coming down the road we did, turned right - we had turned left.  

Their was no room to turn around.  The only thing we could do was to back up.  There was about 12" on either side of the car.  Now if you have ever had to back up perfectly straight and managed to do it - you are a better driver than 99.9% of drivers.  Michael managed to back up quite a ways - in fits and starts and driving forward and again backwards.  The road seemed to be widening slightly - but now there was a set of solid cement stairs leading up to a door way about 6' tall.  There would be no margin for error backing through that space!  Not really going to work for us.

Next we tried driving forward and attempting to turn the car around in one of the wider dead ends.  There was one very close that looked wide enough for at least one car to park there. As we are trying to figure this out, a car stops at the critical corner and looks confused about turning right or left.  I kept waving at him - go right! - go right!  He would have made out problem even worse if he would have turned towards us.

It was pretty easy to pull into that space, but how to get the car turned around with very little road and solid stone corners?  To complicate things there was a water pipe right at the crucial point Michael had to keep backing up to to make the turn.  I think it was about a 20 plus point turn - but with patience we made it.  And with no scratches on the car!  God - I hope no one was watching us!  I'm not sure if it would have looked humorous or pathetic!  Of course it is only after it is all over that you think - Why didn't I take some pictures!  No one will believe we made it out of that situation!  I got back into the car and we headed on down.  We did not see any place to park or to eat and then we were out of town and heading back to Cefalu.  So lets just go home!

But fate is not done with us yet!  We can see the highway - a nice 4 lane road way down below us.  But we have a lot more twists and turns on our road before we get there.  Suddenly before us on the road we see a pile of dirt at a slant in our lane.  It is coming from the hills above and has covered our lane and some of the next.  We slow down - it is not a problem to get  over it.  But a minute or so later there is a bigger pile of dirt crossing our road - both lanes are covered.  But it is not so deep on the other side - so we drive very carefully on the wrong side of the road.  This happens several more times.  Each time the pile of dirt is deeper and is harder to get over.  The area must have had some heavy rain that caused all these mud slides.  Finally we need to turn off this road onto another, but the entire intersection is covered with dirt and pretty big rocks.  They definitely could damage the car.  We stay completely to the right and manage to get by.  

I'm thinking to myself.  How could this get any worse?  Well two things come to mind.  The road could be completely washed out or the piles of dirt and rocks so deep and dangerous that we have to turn around and go way back to Polizz Generosa and retrace out drive back the original way we had come.  

But no - instead we round a corner and find the road completely blocked by a dump truck and an excavator.  They are clearing off a mud slide area.  One of the workmen slowly saunters over and says something in Italian.  We look at him blankly.  He turns away.  The excavator has gone for another load of dirt then turns and dumps it in the dump truck.  And just like that we are waved through.  

As we continue we can see many area that have been cleared of the mud slides.  There is a lookout a little way later so we stop to take some photos of the hairpin turns we have just been on and the mountains beyond.  I hear a commotion behind me and look up to see a goat running down the hill and dushing across the road and into the pasture beyond.    I look up the hill and see many more goats eyeing us warily before they too head down the hill, across the road and into the pasture.

A glimpse of a mountain village in the distance.

We have lots of left overs at the apartment - so lunch at 2:30 is quick.  I have wanted Gelato for a couple of days.  But I have been nervous at going out and walking somewhere after dark.  So we went right after lunch and before Michael starts his meetings.  We mostly to go to the Gelataria that is close to us.  I had actually researched some flavors and was anxious to try Zuppa Inglese.  Which pretty much means English soup.  It's supposed to taste like a trifle.  So cream with bits of fruits and cookie.  But this tasted like bubble gum - do you remember chewing Bazooka bubble gum as a child?  That is what it tasted like, only with bits of fruit like you would find in a Christmas fruitcake!  I'm glad I tried it, but I won't be ordering it again!

Since we never did walk around any mountain villages, I had enough energy to go out for an evening walk in Cefalu.