Italian Gadabout

[RoaminRog]

What's the temperature like with you Rog?

About 11am it’s beautiful, after 1pm it’s scorching, safe to go for a walk after 3.30 and bl**dy cold by 7pm.
Does that help?
As we speak, we have thunder and lightening and on and off rain. At least we don’t have any snow! But by lunchtime tomorrow, everyone will be sunbathing again.

 

[RoaminRog]

We have left our Easter Retreat and headed up Mount Etna. We are about half way up, at a small tourist village called Nicolosi. I think we are about 2000ft above sea level and the weather here today was glorious but with a chilly wind. Tonight it’s a bloody cold lazy wind that goes right through you.

 

[RoaminRog]

We did manage to find a Windtre shop that sold us an unlimited data sim, but not as cheap as we had been lead to believe. We had to pay €20 per month required (two) and €10 for the sim, but that will see us back to the UK and we can watch as much TV as we like.
The people that told us about Windtre were journalists and they were probably able to bag a business deal for their sim but we were not quite so lucky.

 

[Wully]

Been up there Rodger the views were amazing if you could get past the smell of rotten eggs from the sulphur. Your photos of Italy are making me want to go back. There’s a small village called Racalmuto we stayed at very rich in history with a castle we stayed in converted caves that used to be used for storing salt then wine cool in summer warm in winter. The whole area was famous for salt mines.

 

[RoaminRog]

Beautiful up here this morning Wully! No smell of sulphur, but I think it’s been a while since ME erupted last.
Found that village on Googlemaps but I doubt if we will have time to visit this time round, but thanks for the input.

Quick update, it turns out we are 6250 ft above sea level.
Nobody told me to expect any trouble with the toilet cassette at this altitude.
I couldn’t get it to open and I assumed something had broken.
Eventually the flap burst open, covering me in unpleasantries. The cassette had pressurised, due to the height, and all I had to do was press the yellow release button to release the pressure. I know that now!
I thought shytface meant something completely different!

 

[Pauljenny]

Thanks Rog..
We can all learn from your experiences.

 

[RoaminRog]

Cheers Paul. Sorry I missed your birthday last week, I couldn’t have been on the ball!
Belated birthday greetings and love to you both. xx

 

[Pauljenny]

Cheers Paul. Sorry I missed your birthday last week, I couldn’t have been on the ball!
Belated birthday greetings and love to you both. xx

Thanks Rog..
We sat in the Carport cafe, scoffing Lemon drizzle cake, sipping Champagne and toasting " Absent Fiends"
Your names where mentioned.

It's great, throwing a brunch party. Now that we and the neighbours are getting on a bit..
They'd all gone for a siesta by 1pm
Keep this,( mainly),delightful thread going.

 

[runnach]

Quick update, it turns out we are 6250 ft above sea level.
Nobody told me to expect any trouble with the toilet cassette at this altitude.
I couldn’t get it to open and I assumed something had broken.
Eventually the flap burst open, covering me in unpleasantries. The cassette had pressurised, due to the height, and all I had to do was press the yellow release button to release the pressure. I know that now!
I thought shytface meant something completely different!

Roger, do you have to clear your ears when sitting down for a numero deux at that altitude?

 

[RoaminRog]

Roger, do you have to clear your ears when sitting down for a numero deux at that altitude?

Oh no Terry, I can tell when it’s in the bowl without having to listen to it!

 

[RoaminRog]

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, we managed to get ripped off again!
We arrived at the Port of Messina, to be told by a taxi driver that there was a problem boarding, and if we wanted to catch the next ferry to follow him, and he would take us to the embarkation point being used at the moment.
We should have seen sense, but having just fought our way through the manic traffic in Messina, we were feeling stressed and just went with it.
On arrival at the new boarding point, he demanded €55 for his services. We only had a fifty and a twenty euro note on us, which he grabbed and disappeared into the City traffic.
On checking my Satnav, I firmly believe that he took us in a bit of a circle, approaching from a different direction, and brought us back to the same place. We were waved through the ticket office with some urgency, because the ferry was almost ready to depart, leaving us feeling very stupid and angry. So now we can warn everybody that you can expect all sorts of skullduggery by some very plausible thieves and crooks, whenever you are crossing to or from Sicily.
Make sure that you don’t get caught out!

 

[Scotia]

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, we managed to get ripped off again!
We arrived at the Port of Messina, to be told by a taxi driver that there was a problem boarding, and if we wanted to catch the next ferry to follow him, and he would take us to the embarkation point being used at the moment.
We should have seen sense, but having just fought our way through the manic traffic in Messina, we were feeling stressed and just went with it.
On arrival at the new boarding point, he demanded €55 for his services. We only had a fifty and a twenty euro note on us, which he grabbed and disappeared into the City traffic.
On checking my Satnav, I firmly believe that he took us in a bit of a circle, approaching from a different direction, and brought us back to the same place. We were waved through the ticket office with some urgency, because the ferry was almost ready to depart, leaving us feeling very stupid and angry. So now we can warn everybody that you can expect all sorts of skullduggery by some very plausible thieves and crooks, whenever you are crossing to or from Sicily.
Make sure that you don’t get caught out!

Have they no respect taking advantage of the elderly ! Just to add insult to injury .

We had something similar in Rome, almost the whole of the village went to the Scotland Italy rugby game and our elderly neighbours were past walking back so we stuck them in a taxi which took them on a tour. We did not realise how close we were to the hotel.

 

[TeamRienza]

Is that the island that has five million Sicilians on it. ?

That must be the biggest number in the world!

Davy

 

[GMJ]

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, we managed to get ripped off again!
We arrived at the Port of Messina, to be told by a taxi driver that there was a problem boarding, and if we wanted to catch the next ferry to follow him, and he would take us to the embarkation point being used at the moment.
We should have seen sense, but having just fought our way through the manic traffic in Messina, we were feeling stressed and just went with it.
On arrival at the new boarding point, he demanded €55 for his services. We only had a fifty and a twenty euro note on us, which he grabbed and disappeared into the City traffic.
On checking my Satnav, I firmly believe that he took us in a bit of a circle, approaching from a different direction, and brought us back to the same place. We were waved through the ticket office with some urgency, because the ferry was almost ready to depart, leaving us feeling very stupid and angry. So now we can warn everybody that you can expect all sorts of skullduggery by some very plausible thieves and crooks, whenever you are crossing to or from Sicily.
Make sure that you don’t get caught out!

That's sh1t. Sorry to hear that Rog. I'll try and keep my wits about me when we go.

Aside from that was the boarding straight forward again?

 

[RoaminRog]

That's sh1t. Sorry to hear that Rog. I'll try and keep my wits about me when we go.

Aside from that was the boarding straight forward again?

Absolutely, no problems.
Knowing what I know now, I should have simply driven through, displaying my Telepass in the windscreen. No need to book tickets or have dealings with anybody else, Telepass takes care of it all.

 

[GMJ]

When you say Telepass do you mean a tag for the motorways when going through tolls? I have a Bip&Go tag. If this works too I'll be gutted as I pre booked our tickets weeks ago.

 

[RoaminRog]

When you say Telepass do you mean a tag for the motorways when going through tolls? I have a Bip&Go tag. If this works too I'll be gutted as I pre booked our tickets weeks ago.

Don’t know about Bip n Go, sorry. Just be careful when you approach the Embarkation Point. If you can use it, you could possibly end up paying twice. On the way back, we took our tag out of the windscreen, and hid it in the glove compartment, until we drove off the boat.
My Mango tag has got the ‘t’ Telepass symbol and then ‘emis par APPR on the back. Don’t know if this helps at all.

 

[RoaminRog]

We spent today making our way to Paestrum which has a Greek Archeological Site and Museum, it’s supposed to be one of the best preserved in Italy. The carpark allows overnighting for €10 per 24hrs, with all services included.
Chucking it down with rain at the moment, so we are going to go round tomorrow. There is a Bar across the road……

 

[HurricaneSmith]

I'm deleted to hear that you're visiting Paestum, Rog. The three doric greek temples are truly remarkable. But it's not just the temples, because the area contains so much more.

I fired off dozens of photos on a glorious day, and Mrs HS couldn't get me to leave.

 

[Pauljenny]

Absolutely, no problems.
Knowing what I know now, I should have simply driven through, displaying my Telepass in the windscreen. No need to book tickets or have dealings with anybody else, Telepass takes care of it all.

Easily done, Rog..
They are professional thieves.
They lie in wait near pressure points, where tired and stressed travellers are concentrating on other things.
Skilled operators.!

We've been lucky, being Yorkshire.
Our first thought is, " Ow mooch ? "
Your best bet, ( not having a resident Tyke on board), is to Give Chris total control of the money, when travelling, especially near borders.
She'll check with you , before handing out any cash.
At least you've made a contribution to the local economy.. But not to the local Tax authorities..
Also get your phone out and ostentatiously dial 112..
He won't hang about to see if the cops come.


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