18 April Trapani, Sicilia - in the Vittoria Hotel

The ferry trip was very good – once we finally boarded. Stowed the bikes to one side of the cars. Leon had talked us into getting a cabin for 30E extra, and it was a great investment. We planned the first part of our Sicily trip using the plugged in computer and GPS, spread out lunch on the end of one bed on plastic bags, had a sleep, had another little feast for dinner, and then got talking to Bruno and his brother in law. Boris was a Sicilian policeman who had worked in Jakarta and Somalia with the Italian embassies. He rang all the B&Bs/hotels listed in the Planet (3) and they were all full. (We found out yesterday that a huge volcanic eruption in Iceland has grounded the 17 thousand planes trying to fly in and out of northern Europe, stranding millions.) Got off the ferry to a very wet dock – sheets of water and deep puddles – but luckily only a very light drizzle. Followed the signs to hotels and went into the Hotel Vittoria wet and unkempt to enquire about rooms. We were offered a special price of 80 per double, and the rooms were so nice we went back down again to make it two nights.