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.
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.
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.
My Hotel In Palermo
I stayed in the four-star Palazzo Sitano.
The only problem was that I’d booked a single room and it wasn’t ready when I arrived, so I got an enormous and very comfortable suite for the same price.
I liked it and would stay there again.
It says on their web site, that it is close to the centre of everything, and I certainly didn’t have to go far to the station and important sites like the cathedral.
And the staff were excellent, as was the map I was given to find my way around.
the television system was also very good and remembered the last channel, when it was switched off.My Sony in this house does that, so why does the usual television in a hotel forget?
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.
Off To Palermo Tomorrow
I’m off to Palermo tomorrow on the 06:20 easyJet flight out of Gatwick, to do another home run by train.
My schedule is looking like this at the moment.
8th – Palermo
9th – Naples
10th – Genoa
11th – Turin
12th – Geneva
13th – Paris
14th – I’m booked on one of the last Eurostars back to London.
Tragedy In Italy
The deaths of hundreds of asylum seekers off Sicily is tragic.
What can we do in Europe to stop this vile trade, that often ends in injury and death?
As long as Europe is a place where there people are well off, migrants will always try to get here.
And criminals will always take advantage by providing leaky boats, with crap crews!
How Many Good Paintings Have Gone In Skips?
This story about how Robin Darvell found a painting by John Constable in a job lot in an auction, is in The Telegraph.
The painting, bought at an auction in Canterbury ten years ago, has remained in a drawer ever since after the canny buyer spotted a faint signature on the corner.
It has now been revealed as a Constable painting, believed to have been completed near to his home in Suffolk, after being examined by experts on television programme Treasure Detectives.
It now looks like it’s worth about £250,000.
On my wall I have a painting by Arthur Perigal. He wasn’t in Constable’s class, but he is a well-known Scottish artist.
Villa Albani by Arthur Perigal
The painting of the Villa Albani, nearly went in the skip when I moved back to London, as it was in a broken frame and just thrown in the loft. It is signed Arthur Perigal RSA and dated 1872.
It’s not worth a lot, but then it would be worth nothing, if it was in the skip.
How my mother-in-law acquired the painting, can’t be determined now. But she did work for his son, Walter, who was the local doctor in New Barnet. The doctor was an amateur painter and she was given some of his paintings, when she left his employment. Or that’s the story C told. But knowing C’s father, I suspect he got them for perhaps doing a favour for the doctor.
Anybody, who knows the truth, died many years ago.
Is Gluten-Free Beer Illegal In Italy?
I have puzzled for some time, why there is no Italian gluten-free beer, as if Germany with their strict brewing regulations can have one, surely can most countries.
So I searched Google using “birra senza glutine” and found this Italian site. It says this about a beer called Beautiful Elena.
Beautiful Elena : Italian craft beer derived from rice. By law in Italy can not be called beer, because this name is reserved only to beverages that contain barley or barley malt, then find it on the shelves labeled “rice drink alcohol.”
So it looks like many of the gluten-free beers we have couldn’t be brewed in Italy. But they can sell other countries’ products.
Would You Trust Italian Engineering?
The British Grand Prix was a bit of a farce today, as several drivers suffered tyre failures as the BBC reports.
Now Italians may be good at some things like food, parties and calendars, but it does seem that their engineering companies aren’t up to their past high standards at the moment. After all, I did report on the quality of products from AnsaldoBreda here.
I suspect that just as they have with their economy and their politics, there is a lot of rethinking to do.
