Crossing The Strait Of Messina
The Strait of Messina is the strip of water between Sicily and the Italian mainland. you don’t change trains, but they shunted it into a ferry for the crossing.
Unlike the crossing from Denmark to Germany, I took in my return from Stockholm, you can stay in the train if you like.
Along The Coast To Messina
The train didn’t get up great speed as it made its way to the port of Messina, where it would cross to the Italian mainland.
I was surprised that we could actually see the Aeolian Islands and at one point, I thought I made out the distinctive double-peaked shape of Salina, where the salt for my supper came from.
Would I Go Back To Palermo?
That is a stupid question to ask, as there is only one answer.
Yes!
I’d also try to get a good deal at the Palazzo Sitano and have supper at Gagini again.
The only thing that would improve Palermo, would be to go with a classy lady.
One thing that Palermo does seem to have is quite a few clocks. Could it be, that because of its unwarranted reputation, few people wear a watch in the city.
My Train From Palermo
My train from Palermo to Naples was an old-fashioned corridor train, the like of which we haven’t seen for years in the UK, as since the development of the Mk 3 coach in the early 1970s, we’ve not built any of this type.
The class E565 is unusual compared to the UK as it is an articulated electric locomotive. Usually this type of locomotive is used, where there are a lot of tight curves or they need to run large locomotives on regular lines.
Incidentally, there doesn’t seem to be many passenger trains left these days, which are effectively single-ended like this one. In the UK, we do have trains with an engine at one end only, but there is usually a cab from which the train can be driven at the other end. The one exception is the long-distance sleeper trains, like those that go from London to Scotland.
Leaving Palermo
I left Palermo by train just after ten for my trip to Naples, which was scheduled to take a few minutes over nine hours.
Palermo station is a typical Italian edifice, but it does have a chapel.
The catering facilities were basic, with no signs of anything gluten-free, that I could eat, but then I’d had a large breakfast in the hotel.
The cappucino was just €1.50, so I couldn’t complain about the price. It wasn’t too bad either!
Do Italians Talk With Their Hands?
I only have a few words of Italian, but at least I can pronounce celiachai, which is Italian for coeliac well enough to get served gluten-free food.
On the other hand, I find Italians easy to understand, as they seem to use their hands more for emplasis, than other nationalities.
I must learn some more Italian!
At least I know most of the words for food, although at lunchtime one day in Carluccio’s I wasn’t sure what rapa was. But then there was a translation.
Into Palermo By Train
Getting into Palermo from the airport is easy by train, especially if like me you’ve chosen a hotel within walking distance of the main station.
I took the trip in, on a fairly empty train with a German girl, who was going cycling over Sicily. That is not for the faint hearted, as the island is fairly mountainous.
Sicily has quite an extensive rail network and it must be third only to the UK and Irish railways in size for an offshore European island.
Breakfast At Gatwick
It wasn’t that good, as the South Terminal doesn’t have a Jamie’s Italian like the the North one does.
I was in a restaurant, where I had some pretty good scrambled egg, but there were other things on the menu, that I thought, if they had been properly cooked, would be gluten-free.
The restaurant was also serving Aspall’s cyder, which I know is gluten-free, but they didn’t know it was.
Surely, if McDonalds know what contains allergues, it is not beyond the wit of any restaurant to do the same.
So that’s one restaurant, I won’t bother with again.
A Problem With Disabled Toilets
I went to the toilet at Gatwick and despite it being a long walk from the Departures Lounge, I had no problems.
But it wasn’t so easy for a guy on two crutches I met, who looked distinctly unhappy. He told me the problem was that as the disabled toilet is the only place where smokers can’t be spotted, they use it as a smoking room. He said that it was particularly disgusting and smelt very strongly of smoke.
I bet those smokers don’t smoke in their own toilets at home!
The Anonymous Widower 