愛上意大利高跟鞋的女生 Ciao! Bella Italia ~: Slide into the Mediterranean Sea 瀡入地中海 (Citta del Mare, Terrasini)

游泳池的瀡滑梯大家一定玩過，小兒科。
大型水上樂園坐住水泡轉好幾個彎沖落泳池? 濕濕碎。
海洋公司舊時的五彩天梯? 最多咪個心離一離，冇問題。
直接瀡入地中海，又點呢?

自去兩年前係互聯網上見到呢一張相，我一直都好想去玩。滑梯睇落唔係高、又唔係太斜，但最後一條滑梯直接瀡入咁大、無窮無盡既「超級大泳池」，我只會諗，我係咪真係會浮得返上黎? 大海唔似泳池咁有特定高度，瀡得勁，你都會掂到池底，然後手手腳腳撐下撥下，又會游返上黎，但係瀡入地中海，究竟入面有D咩?

重點係，究竟我夠唔夠膽瀡?

呢條滑梯係西西里西北面既Terrasini，名為Citta del Mare 既hotel village內，其實係度假村特別設計的游水設施，基本上只有住客才可以享用設施。所以，一直都冇諗過有機會去玩。(去西西里冇理由唔去又藍又清既沙灘而去度假村嘛)

今年6月，又去西西里旅行，撞正開始游泳季節，一定要去游水啦。本來SEARCH 住一晚要幾錢，嘩，3000蚊? 冇睇錯嘛~ 諗住1000蚊都會考慮下，但點解平日、又唔係星期六日、又唔係咩特別日子 (後來發現6月1日係意大利國慶)，點解咁貴，所以都放棄左呢個念頭。

輾輾轉轉在安排一切行程後，因為決定去睇歐國盃，又要改行程，咁橋手痕再睇下係咪真係咁貴，嘩! 600蚊唔洗? 唔理3721，即刻BOOK! 一於要試下瀡落地中海。

其實酒店位置既唔方便，Terrasini近Palermo，離Palermo機場只係15-20分鐘車程，但係機場冇車直達，從西西里主要城市Palermo 或Trapani出發，都要轉幾次車。

我前一晚係Trapani，最初諗住先搭去Castellamare del Golfo (一個很靚既地方)，再轉車去酒店，但去Castellamare del Golfo一係早上8點，一係就下午，冇理由咁晏先去到，但8點又太早，我住既地方又唔近火車站，加上，去到Castellamare del Golfo又要等多幾個鐘先有車接駁去酒店，而火車站又唔近市中心，又要一段路先去到巴士站，揹住大背囊好唔方便。

另一個方法係先去Palermo，再轉大巴，因為由Trapani去Palermo較多班次，一來唔洗咁早起身，二來接駁既大巴時間又不錯，可以去到Palermo食完LUNCH就再搭車，所以最後決定用呢個方法。(係地理上好奇怪，明明Terrasini係Trapani 同Palermo之間，又，間酒店唔係Terrasini中心)

去到酒店，因為係平日，加上未係暑假旺季，所以好快就可以上房，二話不說去睇下個滑梯，其實有個名叫Toboggan。

先講酒店，係網上好多評價都好一般，因為間酒店其實都有點舊，設施好一般，D人話服務又慢，等CHECK-IN 都要等一個鐘，又話職員唔識講英文，仲要係你要買張卡入錢，先可以去餐廳食野，唔可以係餐廳直接俾錢，所以D人都話只係為左個SLIDE而黎。

去到呢，可能EXPECTED THE WORSE，比想像OKAY，D人識講英文既，不過同佢講意大利文確實方便很多 (by the way 搭大巴司機未必識講英文，搭大巴要小心落車地點)。房間呢，係一般舊式少少既裝修喇，但OKAY啦~唔係殘，大部份都有個露台，對住個海可以望日落日出添!

至於餐廳呢，由於酒店位處偏遠，周圍都唔會有野食，冇車唔洗旨意出去，所以都一定只可留係酒店。酒店地圖寫有3間餐廳，但6月唔係旺季，只有一間開，早午晚都係食自助餐，野食係接受到既，唔難食既，款式都唔會太多唔會太少，每人午餐又好晚餐又去，都係15歐羅，仲要包水同紅白酒，OKAY啦

泳池有3大個，其中一個係標準奧運池，聽講會有世界各地泳隊去訓練，有時會BLOCK左幾條線。另一個就好似冇咁深，適合小朋友，第三個就係滑梯果個喇。

由於係類似度假酒店，佢地會有唔同活動舉辦，例如YOGA, 小朋友跳舞等等，不過唔知邊度會有時間表，所以睇黎都係要去問先知。

另外，酒店都有安排車去附近一個沙灘，每人5歐羅，都唔錯。

好喇~重點講返滑梯，其實全長係分左4部份，頭3部份係瀡入泳池，最後一條先係瀡入地中海，頭3條應該唔會驚，但事實上係，我竟然有恐懼感，會諗，我會唔會中途瀡唔到? 瀡左落去識唔識浮返上黎? 浮完又游唔游到幾步去另一條?

點解咁問? 其實我…. 唔係好識游水，上年先叫做學識，但未試過係一個水深過頭既地方游過水，香港既滑梯瀡到落去，我一定企得返起身唔洗驚，去到一睇? 頭3個池至少150-160CM深，噢…其實….真係深過我。

好啦~先試下游水先，爭扎左好耐，先肯放開水試游幾步，OKAY! 唔會浸親 (但未試過停住唔郁，因為成日都唔明，點解D人係水度可以唔係游緊水，而係打直咁企係度郁) 再爭扎左好耐，終於試左第一級滑梯………….明明我老公試過，話唔係好快好順，要郁下先瀡到，點解我瀡得咁快? 落左水，見到水底，浮得返上黎喎~! 鬆一口氣，試埋同級另一個打直落的，又再爭扎，OKAY! 冇問題! 不過雖然短，但都好快，同埋一瀡落去，隻手係掂到池底的，心諗，咁地中海冇底，我會唔會一直沉到好底，要有排先浮得返上黎? 夠唔夠氣架?

瀡左3條，仲係有D驚，老公已經瀡左幾次落地中海，雖然海水凍，不過都好玩，同埋發現好多意大利人識游水既都唔敢玩。

心癢癢。。。。最後決定把心一橫，試一次，但差唔多5點幾，越黎越涼，又諗住聽日先，所以就冇玩。

第二早，食完早餐再去玩，又要攪左好耐先去瀡頭幾條滑梯，每次都繼續驚，仲有個7、8歲同9,10歲既兄妹係咁叫我試，話唔驚，試啦~冇事架，見佢地兩個玩得咁開心 (普通滑梯，小朋友唔准玩最後果條)，都好想玩。

唔知點解，我去到第3條，唔敢瀡，冇得解，明明尋日先瀡完。但個心，真係好想試瀡落地中海，擾攘大半個鍾，我想說︰

堅。淆底。

就係咁，我竟然冇瀡到，心有戚戚然。究竟，我幾時會再黎呢度呢?

不過大家唔洗擔心，打左咁長篇，冇瀡，但我有拍片，老公點樣瀡入地中海，同埋，大家估下瀡入地中海果刻，係海底會見到D咩?

(最後，可能係淡季，CHECK-OUT果日要10點CHECKOUT, 可以寄存行李繼續去玩，因為我地5:45先搭車去機場，但可能你會問，玩完游水點算? STAFF俾左是但一間房我地去沖涼，所以唔洗怕冇得換衫，不過旺季當多日唔知有冇呢個服務)

Taking slides in a swimming park is nothing special.

What about a giant slide with several turns at a Huge Swimming Park? Well…. It’s easy.

So what about taking a slide which directly put you directly into the sea?

2 years ago I have seen a photo of a slide on the internet, I have been hoping to go there for long time. The slide is not a big nor tall one, not steep, but the last part of the slide goes directly into a “big swimming pool”! I thought, can I float back to the surface? A sea is not like a swimming pool which has a certain height, if I slide into a pool, I can touch the base of the pool and then come back to the surface by moving my hands and legs, but what about in the Mediterranean Sea? What is there in the sea?

And the KEY POINT is… do I have enough courage to do so?

This slide is located in a hotel called Citta del Mare in Terrasini, north-western Sicily. It is indeed one of the facilities of the hotel village, and therefore, basically only hotel guests can use it. I always think that I won’t have chance to try the slide because, who will go to stay in a hotel village and swim in a swimming pool in Sicily, but not swim in the blue blue, crystal-clear sea in Sicily?

This June, I went to Sicily again and it’s time for SWIMMING!!!! At first, I searched the price of the hotel, and guess what? It’s HKD3,000!!! I thought I would try it if it’s below HKD1,000 and I really don’t understand why it was so expensive even the date I searched was just a weekday! (and later I found out that 1 June was the Italian National Holiday and maybe that was why…). So I just put it aside…

After some planning and changing itinerary at last minute because I decided to see Euro 2016 in Marseilles, I searched it again and what? It’s less than HKD600!!! I booked it immediately of course!

Indeed, the location of the hotel is not that convenient. Terrasini is near Palermo, just 15-20 mins drive from Palermo Airport. But there is not direct transport from the airport, and you can just get there by bus from Palermo city or Trapani and it involves changes, too.

I was in Trapani before I went to Terrasini. At first, I planned to get there by first taking train to Castellamare del Golfo (another beautiful city), and then change bus to the hotel. But there’s only one bus/train to Castellamare del Golfo in the morning at 8am! And the 2^nd one is in the afternoon. It’s either too early or too late for me! I don’t want to get to the train station before 8am as it’s a bit far from where I stayed in Trapani. Also, I need to spend sometimes at Castellamare del Golfo with my backpacks since the bus to the hotel is a few hours later. The train station is not in the city centre and it takes a while to get to the bus station, too!

The second choice is I first take coach to Palermo which is quite frequent. And so I don’t have to get up early and the bus from Palermo to the hotel can match with my coach, too. I can even get my lunch at Palermo before going to the hotel. So finally I decided to use this method. (It was a bit strange geographically as Terrasini is between Palermo and Trapani)

Anyway, after arriving to the hotel, as it is weekday and not summer peak season, we were lucky that we can get our room quickly and after settling down, we immediately went to have a look of the slides, which called TOBOGGAN!

First let’s talk about the hotel. The reviews online were indeed just so so. Some said that it’s old, normal facilities, and slow service. People have to wait for an hour to check-in, staff doesn’t speak English, and the hotel is using an out-dated system, that you have to buy a money card and put in money for paying at their restaurants. You can’t use CASH! So most of the people said that they just came here for the SLIDES! And so do us!

Okay, maybe we expected the worse, so we felt okay with everything at the hotel. Staff do speak English, but of course, I think it’s easier if you can speak Italian. (by the way, the coach driver from Palermo high likely doesn’t speak English so be careful when you tell him you want to get off at the hotel, or you may miss the bus stop!)

What about the room? It’s a bit old fashion and with minimal design, but it’s acceptable. Not really that old, and most of the rooms got a big balcony facing the sea! You can have a great view of sunset.

Restaurants? As the hotel is a bit remote, there’re no other choices except you have a car. So people stay in the hotel for the meals. From the hotel map, there are 3 restaurants, as June is not peak season, they only open 1 restaurant for serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s all BUFFET style. The food are acceptable with limited choices, but okay. Price is 15 euro for lunch or dinner, including unlimited, water, red or white wine.

There are 3 big swimming pools, of which one of them with Olympic standard , I heard that some swimming teams will do training there, thus, sometimes they will block a few lanes for training. The other one seems suitable for children, and the 3^rd one is TOBOGGAN!

This hotel is like a resort village, they offer different activities, like Yoga, kids dancing class, etc. But I can’t see any timetable showing there, so you may have to ask if you want to know what’s going on.

Also, the hotel offers ride to a nearby beach at 5euro. It’s not bad! (with shower facilities, chairs, sun umbrellas included)

Okay, the SLIDES! It divided into 4 parts, first 3 slides go into the pool, and the last one goes into the SEA. Not scary for the first three of course, but, for me, it’s not. I would think: will I stuck in the middle of the slide? Can I float back on the surface? After one slide, can I swim and get to the 2^nd slide?

Why? Because I don’t really know how to swim at all. I learnt swimming last year and never did I really swim at a pool with deeper height than me…. The first 3 slides go ino the pool with around 150-160cm depth…and they are already deeper than my height…

Okay, I first swam in the pool, it’s safe! Haha… and then after quite a long while… I tried the 1^st slide. I don’t know why, it’s quite fast for me but not for my husband! He has to push and push in order to finish the slide! The first time I went into the pool, I saw the floor, and can float ! so I tried the other one! it’s good, too! And sometimes, I can feel the floor of the pool, too. But there’s no BASE in the sea……if I got in too deep, do I have enough time to come back to the surface?

So I tried the 3 slides…still a bit worried, but my husband had already gone to the sea….. the sea is cool, but it’s funny. But even not many Italians dare to get to the last slide!

Tempting to try the last slide……… but it’s already 5sth and getting a bit cold, so we decided to wait for the next morning.

The next day, we went to the slides after breakfast, it took me another 30 mins to get used to the slides…. Even a few kids around 7-10 yrs old kept encouraging me to slide!! !!! They were having fun (but for kids they are not allowed to use the last slide)

I don’t know why.. I was so scared when I got to the 3^rd slide which I tried the day before. I really wanna try it, but after another 30 mins. I finally

G.A.V.E. U.P.

So with a bit disappointment and regret, I missed it. Will I have another chance in future?

But for you, don’t worry, I have uploaded a video of my husband taking the slides, going into the sea and you can see what’s in there with our camera….

(lastly, maybe it’s not peak season, although our check-out time is 10am, we can store our luggage, and went to the beach, came back to have lunch, and then took taxi to the airport at 5:45pm. So you will ask if we can take shower after swimming? It’s YES! They gave me one of the room to get shower and changes.! It’s so good!!!!)