Friday, May 4, 2012

Up the Boot and a Roman Reprise

My last few posts have been made with my little ipod, keeping the verbiage down to a minimum. I've got my fingers on the keyboard of the computer now, so this could (will) be a longer post.

We were sad to leave Salina but very happy we'd found such a lovely part of the world. Though we keep going back to Sicily, until now we had not found a place we would return to over and over.  We also discovered that we like slow travel. The fast ferries were not for us - causing sea sickness, overheating and general upsetness. The slow ferries on the other hand are just the ticket. The journey feels more real on the slow ferry. We ended up on the slow ferry because of the bikes, we were just not going to package them up and drag them down the gang plank onto the fast ferry.

We arrived in Milazzo in the afternoon and spent some time on a hidden beach. Once the sun went in, we adventured back into town and I attempted to see the castle. A national monument, an EU site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Just not possible. Who knows why? It is Italy. The 'antique cathedral' is open, but inaccessible because it is behind the locked gate of the castle. Sigh. The whole top of the hill is this huge fortification dating from the Norman conquest of Sicily. The view from the one part of the castle outside the fence was lovely.

After this slight disappointment, we attempted to find a restaurant open for dinner. Keep in mind this was around 7pm. Most Italians and all Sicilians don't eat until 0830PM at the earliest.  Nothing, not one place. Finally I spotted a restaurant door that didn't have a closed sign, I stuck my head in and asked if they were open. After general discussion, it was agreed that yes, they were open. We were treated to a very tasty meal of seafood, pasta and grilled fish. Sadly we had to rush away to get to the train station to catch our night train to Rome.

We arrived at the Milazzo train station (4k) out of town with plenty of time to spare for the packing of the bikes. We wended our way through a huge school of Italians waiting by the doors. I assumed they had recently arrived by train and were waiting for a bus to pick them up. Christopher knew different but failed to say so.  We discovered a few minutes later that they were just waiting for a critical mass of Italian humanity before flooding onto the station platform and washing over us like a happy flock of birds. We considered moving, but figured that someone would end up on the tracks if we shifted even a buttock. Then, as suddenly as they arrived, they were off again, to the other end of the platform. It was then that I uttered a prayer to the Catholic Italian God of trains and travellers. "Oh Lord, let the train stop right here in front of us. Lord, let the door to our compartment, number 6, be right here, and please, please let the door not be locked". I think all the candle lighting in all the cathedrals payed off because the train did stop with the door to coach 6 right in front of us, and it wasn't locked!

The night train was less painful than last time because we had less luggage. There was this unfortunate incident when my sleep addled brain convinced me to accidentally pull the emergency train stop as I was trying to climb into my bunk.  Just so everyone knows... never do what I did.  The train does stop... very fast.  Thanks again to the Catholic God of Italian Travellers (again) I wasn't arrested and they let us stay on the train.

We arrived in Rome somewhat shaken due to the emergency stop incident, but resolute in our plans to get back on another train and go to the beach. We almost made it to the beach. We did make it to a wonderful archaeological site and a great agritourismo for local wine and olive oil, and back to Rome on the train without incident.

Our vacation rental by owner is lovely and right in the heart of Rome. From our upstairs terrace we are able to see the Colosseo and other fantastic landmarks. Last night we wandered around Rome enjoying the night scene.

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