Not what I had envisioned

Yesterday morning I picked up my rental car at the Avis on Via Francisco Crispi, 260 near the Port of Palermo. It was an easy 30 minute walk from my hotel. I must admit after a few days of observing the local drivers on these streets I was a bit concerned about getting myself out of the City without taking a wrong turn, ending up in a ZTL (limited traffic zone), narrow side street or going the wrong way down a street. The speed and sounds of the racing engines can be intimidating as a pedestrian.

My heart did sink a bit when the woman behind the counter told me I would be driving a red Jeep Renegade. A Jeep? In Italy? While it isn’t the Fiat or Peugeot I had envisioned, I guess it will have to do.

Once I was behind the wheel and following my route out of town (most of which I had walked the day before on the way to Mount Pellegrino), my anxiety disappeared. It was a surprisingly easy. So for all the websites that say “don’t drive in Palermo” “don’t rent a car in Palermo” and if you do rent a car to only rent it from the airport- don’t listen to them. I will agree there is no reason to have a car in Palermo while you are staying there- it is a very walkable city. But if you have done any amount of city driving in places like Boston, New York or LA, you should be fine. If someone honks at you (the will) just honk back. You do have to be aggressive with merging and turning where you may or may not have people following rights of way or “stopping” at stop signs.