Every day I fear that perhaps I will no longer feel excited by what I see because of the thousands of amazing, different and fabulous experiences I have had over the past years, particularly since retirement end of April this year. Luckily, I never cease to be thrilled , sometimes rather scared by the new things which await me each day.
Flying over the Alps the day after being in Saas Fee was unbelievable, especially as we were treated to an absolutely magnificently clear view of The Wallis area where Saas Fee lies! The Matterhorn , Zermatt, was clearly visible. What a gorgeous flight!
Arrival in Sicily was no less impressive, but much more terrifying. For once I had a window seat ( definitely the last time!) and watched in horror as we , just prior to landing, seemed to be heading straight towards the mountain seen in the photo below. Fortunately, at the last moment we banked sharply to the left , to land seconds later on the narrow runway between mountain and sea! Very hairy moment.
Our hired car is a very large Citroen, extremely comfortable and apparently very economical to run. It is rather wide though and we did have a few worried moments getting into the car park in Cefalu. Getting out was much easier, but still not much room to move!
We had a fabulous time in Cefalu, about an hour from Palermo. Such a pretty fishing, tourist town with our lovely b and b , Scirocco, right in the middle of the old town. What a fantastic place , with its exceptionally friendly host, comfortable rooms and, the icing on the cake, a rooftop terrace where we could enjoy a late evenng tea under the stars to the buzz of happy people in the square below, and breakfast in the morning, with sensational views in all directions.
On the one side the 270m hill with its castle and temple on top , on another the mountains of inner Sicily, and on the other the sea and marvelous coastline We did not have the time or energy in the heat to climb up to the topmof the nearby hill 😐the view from the roof top was good enough for us!
What a picturesque place the town is, with so many brilliant eating areas. In the evening we ate a delicious meal at the restaurant one dan see just behind the white pier. Although dark, we could hear the sound of the waves breaking, and see them as they splashed against the rocks beside us. Great start to our trip.
Sadly we had no time to have a dip, but it certainly looked very inviting.
Just outside our B and B was a beautiful tree in full bloom. The colours were stunning contrasted with the lovely light earthy colours of the building behind.
We started off towards Enna, planning to take the mountain road through the regional park of Madonie. I was a bit anxious but Dennis was positive that the mountain roads would be fine. All started ok, and in general there were not many sheer drops to the side of the road, the road should have been wide enough for two, and there was not a lot of traffic , thankfully! At least for the first few kms , and then the condition of the road deteriorated dramatically and it looked as if the roads had been seriously 'munted' by earthquakes. It was impossible to drive fast, which I was glad about, but poor Dennis had to be ready at every bend to avoid potholes, road slips and often huge drops in road level. It was unbelievable - thanks Dennis for the safe and careful driving! After very slow progress to the first town , we headed towards the nearest motorway entrance but the road was shut 7 km further on so we had to turn back, and drove back down to the coast on another road ,which did not look too bad on the map. Unfortunately, it too was full of holes and to add to the stress on the driver and passenger, was narrower and windier! Boy, were we happy when we could see an end in sight and had a chance to pull over and really appreciate what was truly spectacular landscape.
Tine to study the map once again and decide to finish the trip on the motorway!
Good decision. Although the road surface was also not the best, we were able to enjoy a gently undulating motorway through magnificent valleys to Enna in the centre of Sicily, so totally different from the coast we had left only hours before. 
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