We were told that we could be spending 9 hours on the coach today as we had to travel over 540 klms and the time would depend on road conditions as there is a lot of improvements being made to the southern autostrada. We left at 7.30 sharp and had to go back towards Naples and cross the Sorrento Peninsular to pick up the autostrada going south.

 We travelled along the Apennine Mountains for a couple of hours before we had a toilet stop. After that the landscape was still hilly but not as dramatic as earlier. There was farming, market gardens, olive groves, vineyards and goodness knows what else. After a lunch stop the road met the coast and there was some lovely little towns by the sea.  We also saw in the distance the outline of the island of Stomboli.The volcano has erupted many times and is constantly active with minor eruptions, We had made good time and reached the town of Villa San Giovanni, in the toe of Italy at 2.30. 

Buses, lorries, cars, all boarded the ferry which only took 15 minutes to cross to Sicily at the town of Messina. It has been a port city since the 8th century BC. It has been ruled by Goths, Byzantines, Arabs and the Normans and has been destroyed many times. Today it is the third largest city in Sicily.

It was another hour before we reached Letojanni, a little town on the coast about 5 klms north of Taormina, the resort town of Sicily. We are staying here as it is too difficult to get tour groups into hotels in Taormina. The town is rustic and stretches along the coastline. Having said all that, large buses are not allowed along the road behind the beach, so we had to walk for about ten minutes. Our luggage was put into smaller vans and talken straight to our rooms.The hotel is right across from the beach and is much better than I was led to believe. It is spartan but very clean and we have a balcony. The air conditioning has been pounding away since 4.00, but the temperature in the room is still 26'C. So as it is now 10 pm, we are going to open the doors and let the breeze in off the sea.