Ustica

Today we travelled from the port of Palermo to the island of Ustica. The port is something else, passenger ferries, container ships and cruise lines all docked together. Finding the little ferry to Ustica took a lot of asking around. As did buying the tickets. You can get coffee, breakfast, fresh oranges, but no ferry tickets at the port. The tickets are purchased at the office 4 blocks away. I acquired some new bruises and scrapes on my legs as I made a mad dash assisted by my bicycle through the morning traffic.

The ferry ride was peaceful and uneventful. Our arrival was a bit fraught as we tried to wait until all the traffic had left the so called ferry terminal which was actually only a worn concrete ramp into the sea.

The helpful port police (Chris thinks they were finance police) at the top of the ramp directed us towards the nameless town. We managed to find our lovely little hotel without too much asking around. The streets here are not paved with ashphalt, but rather with the local volcanic stone set in patterns that are a bit hard on the cyclist butt.

We cycled around a bit and saw some lovely scenery and a few fixer upper sorts of homes. On our return to the hotel we think we arranged to go for a guided fishing trip tomorrow... more on that after we do it.