A bus, a boat, a train, a ferry/train, a train, a taxi and I am here. Good grief it was a long day of travel. I didn’t really calculate how long it would take to get here. I just knew I was going and that was about it. Here is Taormina/Giardini-Naxos on the west coast of Sicily. It is definitely a very cute spot and I can see how it would be packed in the summer. It is very quiet right now especially in Giardini-Naxos where I’m staying. The two towns are very close to each other and make for an easy visit from one to the other.
I had a really interesting journey getting here. As long as it was, I never really minded until the last 15 minutes when it hit me how tired I was from traveling.
I started with my boat ride from Positano to Salerno. The boat is the fastest way to get to Salerno from Positano and Salerno is the city with the trains to Sicily. My other choice would have been to go back north to Sorrento but I wanted to keep going south and see something else. The boat ride is a little over an hour. I started chatting with one of the boat workers. I had pointed to some land way out in the sea and asked if it was Sicily. He laughed. Nope. I guess Italy is bigger than I thought. We started talking and had a really nice chat. He pointed out sights along the way. A lot of the castle towers along the coast are privately owned. The government sold them at one time when they were in need of cash. We talked about the Toro tuna fishing issue off the coast of Italy. Many Japanese are buying up the fish but it sounds like the Italians can still buy some locally at a good price. One of the workers was a former tuna fisherman. We talked about the state of economics in Italy and how hard it’s been moving from the Lira to the Euro. I had noticed a big change in the Italians in Rome and figured it was because of this and everyone I ask about it seems to say that this transition is the problem. I’d like to do some research on my own about it. I might talk more about this later. It’s been on my mind since I arrived here. Lastly we talked about electricity, power, and alternative choices. Electricity is very expensive in Italy and apparently they buy it from France and Switzerland. There is some wind power being generated in the south but I honestly don’t know how much power that creates. I’ve heard that solar is very expensive and he mentioned that in these tourist towns they have a hard time with the idea of changing the view of their city with the addition of solar panels on rooftops. The have a bit of an image they are trying to maintain. It was a pretty interesting and broad conversation. It was all in English by the way too. He spoke really well and wanted to practice and kept asking me to clarify words. I’m curious if he did something else in another life.
Once I reached Salerno, I had some time to wander before my train was scheduled to depart. It was really just enough time to check email and get lunch. I stopped into a random spot called Pinocchio’s. I chose it randomly but then realized it was in the guidebook too. I don’t know if I would have stopped based on the summary they gave but my experience was GREAT! The owner came up to me and rattled off a bunch of Italian. I didn’t really know what he was saying and caught maybe every 3rd or 4th word. Whatever he said, I decided to just agree to it and minutes later out came my lunch. First I had a plate of mussel and clam pasta in a light olive oil and tomato sauce. Next I had a spinach and ricotta pie of some sort. The crust actually seemed like a pizza crust so maybe it was like a calzone but in the shape of a pie. Last, he brought out a plate of fried sardines and a plate with roasted potatoes and eggplant. The whole thing was so good and when I was done and asked for the check he shrugged his shoulders and said 10, like he was just throwing a number out. Good stuff.
I headed to the train station after lunch and once the train finally arrived, 35 minutes late, and we departed I quickly found out that I was in the wrong car. Through a mixture of Italian and hand signals I found out that half of the cars were going onto Palermo and half were going to Siracusa. I needed to be on the portion going to Siracusa and I was on the Palermo half. Some nice men had heaved my suitcase onto the rack above me and they decided for me that I’d stay put until San Giovanni, when they would get off and remove my bag for me and I’d switch trains then. I appreciated everyone making the decisions for me. It was one less thing to think about that day.
When we got to San Giovanni, they took my bag down and we all got out. I ran to the other end of the train, about seven cars, and jumped into the correct car. I got to my seat and was all out of breath thinking the train would pull away any second like it usually does in each station. What I didn’t know was this was the station where we separate into two trains and I had some time. It actually took a long time because not only did we separate, but this is where we were loaded onto a ferry to cross over to Sicily. It was pretty interesting being in a train and being loaded onto a ferry. Once we were loaded on and the train/ferry pulled out of dock, you could head up to the deck in typical ferry fashion and watch the view. There was a nice old man from Siracusa who had helped me get onto the car in San Giovanni. He came by and got me and led the way up to the deck. He was pretty cute, showing me around and he took my picture on the deck. There was no way I was telling him that we have ferries in Seattle. They don’t carry trains but they all work the same.
We kept trying to talk a little and every time he would go to say something to me he would swing the back of his hand out at me. I do this a lot when I talk too. I totally get it. However, he kept swinging his hand right at my chest. Yikes! He whacked me a couple of times and then after that I became totally flinchy. I started to put my hands up in front of me in preparation for him whacking me. I probably looked a little odd, positioning my body away from him and holding my hands up in front of my chest, pretending to pray or say namaste.
After a few minutes up on deck and taking in the tour from my new friend, we headed back to the train car in preparation for disembarking at Messina. It was only about a 30-minute journey across but it takes them forever to get you on and off. In Messina, we got a new crew and it was a good thing because the steward told me that I was the next stop. This was important information because it was now really dark out and I couldn’t see a station stop to save my life. He said it was about twenty minutes away. Before I had received all this information I was busy trying to figure out how I would know this on my own. They don’t announce station stops on this train. I had pulled out my guidebook and looked at the map of Italy. I noticed that the mainland was visible across the sea and it appeared on the map that shortly after the mainland ended, I should be in Taormina. This was my only sign for knowing where to get off…that is before the steward came along.
So, I had my bags and I was standing at the train door waiting for my stop. I wasn’t sure how long they would stop here. Some stations you have to be fast or you are out of luck. We came to a stop. Yippee. Finally. I was exhausted. Once the train stopped, I opened the door and jumped out. As I jumped out I looked around and didn’t see much of anything. I knew I was going to a small town but this was odd. No sign or anything. I then noticed that there were tracks on the other side of the platform that I was on but no way to get across to the station. That’s weird. It was about at that moment that I saw a train employee getting off at another car and he sees me and starts to yell at me, “NO, NO, NO” and points for me to get back on the train. Yikes! I fly back up and onto the train and the door closes behind me. Oh crap. I was totally freaking out. I thought maybe I messed something up when I opened the door. We were still sitting at this stop and not moving. I thought I was in big trouble. A steward came down the train towards me and he looked really mad. I tell him I’m sorry and that I thought it was Taormina. He answers so casually and light, in English, that it’s the next stop and this is just where we switch tracks. Oh! I don’t think he’s the one that yelled at me. That also explains why we’re still here. I really thought I had messed up the train somehow. Whew. We start to move again and then quickly come to a stop again, as something is wrong with the tracks. I didn’t do it! We get moving shortly after the last stop and finally come to Taormina. I can see the station sign. It’s official.
I take a taxi to the hotel and decide that because I’m so tired and the town appears to be closed for the night, I’ll just go to sleep. I crawl into bed and find myself being lulled to sleep with the rocking sensation that’s been with me all day.
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