Beautiful beaches, mountains and Palermo in sight

Wednesday 22.03.

Veterinarians in Italy are basically no different from in Germany, from a human's perspective at least. Hundi gets a complete examination and the diagnosis is a nice infection. Richer in a few tablets and 80€ poorer, we leave the sacred veterinarian halls. An excitement for all involved. The question that briefly arises is where to go now. Back to the campsite or further towards Palermo? We quickly decide to continue driving and look for something quiet for tonight. We stay in Castellamare del Golfo and drive a few meters further to the harbor. Here we quickly find a parking space with a view of the sea and the fishermen with their boats. Today was exciting enough. In the evening, we take a small mini walk at the harbor with unspectacular events.

Thursday 23.03.

In the morning, we take a walk into town, everything is in a state of flux. Everywhere is being cleaned, hammered and wildly gestured. Although the latter probably belongs to everyday life here. The city is nothing that blows us away. Many hotels and guesthouses, restaurants, bars and lots of signs with all kinds of offers. One thing is for sure, despite the beautiful parking space, we don't want to stay here any longer and want to continue driving. We don't really know how we want to proceed. There are a few places and sights that we are interested in and that we would like to visit. A little discussion and off we go. However, driving on is not as easy as hoped. There is a one-way street waiting for us with such a steep incline that we struggle to master it with our tried and tested teamwork. There are still small narrow passages waiting for us and it takes a while until we can leave this mini town behind us.

In the early afternoon, we arrive near Segesta. An app recommends parking in front of a pizzeria to visit the thermal springs from there and then enjoy a pizza in the evening. Off we go to the thermal springs, we were definitely not promised too much. A great path through vineyards and olive groves leads us there. We enjoy the springs and immerse ourselves completely in the bathtub-warm water. We are joined by a few Italians on site and for the first time we feel like we have a little contact with the locals. Time flies and suddenly the sun is almost gone and we make our way back. With us is a Czech giant mobile home parked in the parking lot. They entertain us with a small concert in Czech and we are happy about this little open-air concert. Now we just have to wait for the pizzeria to open. In the meantime, we browse the Google comments about the aforementioned restaurant again and have to realize that only tourists appreciate this place. The Italians give it only one star ratings. We waited in vain, started the engine and drove a few kilometers further to a quiet place.

Friday 24.03.

What a nice quiet night. It is fascinating how big the temperature difference is from the sea to the inland. It was a bit chilly and we are glad to have winter bed linen.

Today is historical. We want to visit the Segesta archaeological site. It's only a few kilometers away, unfortunately there are no hiking trails or side roads to the entrance. So we have to pack everything and drive right up to the door. Fortunately, Hundi is allowed in and we look at everything there is to see. On the giant estate, we meet our Czech neighbors from yesterday again. We arrange to meet later at last night's parking space. In the late afternoon, we already arrive there and explore the area, which consists of vineyards and lemon plantations. It's beautiful here and we enjoy the evening atmosphere.

Game night and movies round off the day.

Saturday 25.03.

We exchange ideas with our new travel acquaintances. But they are already leaving us today, as they want to take the ferry back from Palermo on Sunday. Mathennsi, Ani and Hundi decide to go for a hike to two small peaks nearby. The hike is strenuous and we wonder why we are still panting uphill even though we feel like we climb several meters in altitude every day. Our beloved red and white trail marker guides us through nature and we are lucky to get a completely new view of Segesta. Back at the motorhome, there is an extensive rest with a tick check action. All participants have brought something with them from the forest, more than we would like, especially Hundi. Tick season has officially begun here in Sicily.

In the late afternoon, we take a long walk through the vineyards and admire the beauty of nature here.

We are visited by the Italian scouts who briefly "delight" us with guitar music and then move on to their night camp.

Sunday 26.03.

Where we are currently parked is the shuttle parking lot for Segesta during the summer season. We are lucky and there is water. Body and hair wash with 3 degrees cold mountain water is on the agenda for this morning. In the process, we find a few ticks as well. Once brain freeze later, we pack up and drive to Parrini. Here there is a small artist village that is supposed to be very worth seeing.

As usually on Sundays, there is a lot going on on the streets and all the sights are explored by the Italian extended families. Arriving in Parrini, we are greeted with a small parking problem, luckily someone can park very well here and we can start the short time later. This consists of exactly 3 streets and we don't really know what to do here for a whole afternoon. There isn't even an ice cream parlor. It is really nice what you get to see, but at the same time it doesn't take 30 minutes and we are back at our camper. We didn't expect that. What do we do now with the remainder of the afternoon.... We still feel like having ice cream and decide to zoom to Partinico. Narrow streets, narrow one-way streets, low balconies, even narrower streets and Italian vehicles parked wildly welcome us warmly. We want to park at the cemetery and for that we have to drive through the entire city. Eventually, we reach the parking lot and treat ourselves to a well-deserved ice cream. We each devour brioche filled with ice cream (with iceberg). So delicious, really damn delicious. Yummiiiiiieeee! The item on the program is thus completed. Now just grab a small espresso somewhere. For our tastes, the city is not beautiful at all and we can't really imagine staying here longer. We find the espresso in a small bar in a side street and it really wakes us up and gives us strength for the return trip to the cemetery. Actually, we didn't want to stay here overnight, but we don't really feel like driving any further today.

Sleeping place at the cemetery wall.....

Monday 27.03.

The night was not really restful. None of us three really find peace the whole night. Whether it was the espresso or the cemetery next door is not really to be determined.

During our morning coffee, we plan the next steps for today. We are not really sure if we want to visit Palermo or not. Mathennsi really wants to get a taste of the big city again. Ani, on the other hand, has no desire for that. Ani's decision prevails for now. The next few hours are spent with various considerations, pros and cons, and different options to make everyone happy.

We want to head to a small bay near Palermo to stay there for the coming night and then see what happens next.

Due to the storm, we leave the bay we headed for a short while later and now drive to a campsite after all. We have to refill water anyway and we couldn't find water anywhere in the last few kilometers, or we were repeatedly told to keep driving. So off to the campsite. It's 3:00 p.m., no one there to check in. Someone comes after an hour and we settle into our parking bay.

The place is clearly in German hands and Mathennsi quickly makes friends with the first neighbors to get tips for Palermo City.

Tuesday 28.03.

A quiet night, Hundi without fever for the first time in a long time. We laze around all morning and before we really get going, it's suddenly 1:00 p.m. Nevertheless, we make use of the remaining day and go for a coastal hike to Grotte dell'Olio. We are mega surprised by the beautiful hike, as we walk through nature, we come across small natural treasures and are accompanied by a beagle who has fallen in love with Layla.

Along the way, we actually meet people and have a few chats with our rudimentary knowledge of Italian. Regardless, it is clearly enjoyable for both sides to exchange a few small words. Back at the campsite, we fire up the grill station and Mathennsi turns out to be the grill master. Meanwhile, he becomes friends with the new camping neighbors who come from Ilmenau. Of course, here the little one is a fox and gets some tips on what to do and see in Palermo.

In the evening, we have to accompany Mathennsi in the search for the metro station and we suspect what awaits us tomorrow. Hundi and Ani try to resist the plan, but we don't think we can get out of it anymore....