Travel Day: Siracusa to Palermo

One replacement bus service due to trackwork between Siracusa and Catania. One train from the Catania Airport Station to Palermo Centrale. A generally easy travel day … with Mount Etna puffing out smoke and keeping us company from far and near during much of the bus ride and through the first part of the train ride.

Now for the long story.

With check-out from the Ortigia apartment scheduled for 10:00a, we had time to dally over breakfast … and the final preparations for our travel day. A few minutes before the appointed time, we were closing the door … the keys left behind on the console table as instructed.

We still had several hours before the scheduled Trenitalia bus service at 1:14p. What to do until then?

Well, first we stopped at Viola, a pasticceria/café down the street from the apartment, for Mui to get himself an espresso. Then, we trundled down the street and over to the waterfront promenade where we knew there were benches in the shade … and cafés if we wanted something to eat or drink. The area was quiet, the temperature was comfortable, and the scenery provided eye candy that helped while away the time.

Around 11:30a, we began a leisurely walk to the place from which Mui got arancini a few days ago. A small café … no special ambiance … great crispy arancini, however … which we ate at the only table on the sidewalk that was in the shade. Bonus? The place was on the way to the bus stop near the Siracusa Train Station.

We figured we’d be boarding the replacement bus from the same place where we were dropped off on the 10th when we arrived in Siracusa. There were plenty of buses when we arrived just before 1:00p. Some were scheduled intercity buses. Others had no signs to identify them. Mui walked over to the train station to confirm the location. Yes, we were at the right place. But which one was our bus?

As our departure time neared, we began to get antsy. Then, one of the buses moved out of the way, and I noticed people getting on a bus on the other side of the road … the windshield now sporting a Trenitalia sign. Glad I saw them and walked over to check the sign. Otherwise … well, let’s just say that we might have been stranded in Siracusa.

The bus ride was not direct to Catania Airport. The driver detoured off the highway a couple of times to drop off others at train stations along the way. Nonetheless, we arrived at the airport train stop on time … with 44 minutes to while away before our regional fast train arrived to whisk us to Palermo.

The train ride was uneventful. And, as was the case on the bus, we had room to spread out. Our route took us through rolling hills instead of along the coast. The scenery was very different … much starker. I would have taken photos …. except that the windows were filthy and I couldn’t get the iPhone camera to focus on anything but the spots. Oh well.

With only a few stops along the way, the train ride took about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Mui had downloaded something or another from Netflix to entertain himself … I had photos to process to keep myself busy.

By the time we pulled into Palermo Centrale, it was dark. The train station was quiet, but outside … OMG, the traffic! Welcome to the big city!

Thanks to Google Maps, we knew to walk out and around the station to catch bus 101 to get to our apartment. Easy peasy … and we even had seats for the 20+ minutes it took to get to our bus stop. A 10-minute walk then took us to our destination.

Unlike the last two properties, there was no one to greet us here. No need to do so … digital keys sent to us via an app gained us access to the building and the apartment quickly enough.

Our apartments on this trip have ranged from basic, to luxurious, to this third one, which I would describe as middle of the road. The furnishings are a mix of contemporary and antique. Definitely a very different ambiance from our last place. The apartment is clean … and has the basic amenities we need. We’ll be comfortable enough here for the next six nights.

Mui took a quick look-around to see what was what in the kitchenette and headed out to Conad, the supermarket closest to the apartment, to pick up some basic groceries. When he returned, we had a snack, logged into Netflix, and re-watched the last episode of the third season of “The Diplomat” … a refresher if you will before we start watching season four, which Netflix dropped today.

I have unilaterally decided that tomorrow will be a day of rest. Mui didn’t put up a fight, so I know he agrees we need some downtime. We’ll probably go out and get our bearings at some point … maybe … if we feel like it.

(Yes, eagle-eyed readers … the balcony/terrace photos were taken the next day. But I am sharing them in this post.)Read more