As expected the trip across the Mediterranean was in itself pretty boring. There's just so much you can do on a boat. With the sun glaring outside and only a mild breeze working against the heat I left the deck soon after a few futile attempts to trick my camera into making a panorama shot of the sea. It appears to get confused by the absence of discernible features. Nevermind then, it's just a straight horizon anyways.

Another 200 km to Palermo, which is four hours of travel time at the current speed. We could be docked at 16:00 h already if everything goes well.

Unfortunately that projection didn't hold as the boat slowed down considerably some time during the day so it was already 18:30 when I finally rolled out of the harbor. To be fair that was the official arrival time so I can't really complain. Near the port exit I said farewell to the couple from Lausanne who I befriended the day before and went on my first, short stretch of actual cycling.

Palermo is as beautiful and thoroughly southern as I imagined. I only took a short detour through the center which was a bit frustrating because the town is a labyrinth of one-way roads. The driving style down here takes some getting used to but it's quite alright to you just go with the flow.

Around 20:00 I rolled into the first campsite of this year's trip, La Playa in the fancy named Isola delle Femmine. Right next to the beach I can feel the fresh breeze and hear the sea -- well if it's not interrupted by the noise of everybody around me watching today's football match. I can't quite tell if the Italian team is scoring or losing, it sounds like maybe a little bit of both. the sea

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