Italy: Ciao Bella

There was always going to be replacement bus service as part of today’s travel itinerary. But it was supposed to be just one bus ride … and it was supposed to follow two train rides. That’s not how things worked out. Instead we had a train-bus-train-bus kind of a day.

The good news? All together, it wasn’t a bad travel day and we arrived at our final destination on time as scheduled. Settled into our lodgings, we had dinner at a nearby pizzeria and took a nighttime stroll to wrap up the day.

If the short story is sufficient, you can stop here. If not, what follows is the long story.

It rained and it rained and it rained … overnight. There were just some sprinkles to contend with when we left the apartment at 7:50a to seek breakfast before heading to the train station. By the time we got to Emme, a café along our route to the Cefalù Station, the sprinkles had dried up.

With plenty of time on our hands, we dallied over a typical Italian breakfast of cappuccino and cornetto. Then, onward to the station … arriving with plenty of time to spare before our 9:05a train.

As it turns out, it was a good thing that we were early as we had to do some digging around to figure out why our train was not on the departures board. Yes, there was a train leaving at 9:05a, but the number did not match the train that was supposed to take us to Messina.

No biglietteria (ticket office). No station attendant. Lots of passengers on the main platform. All looking a little lost. Mui finally found the station manager in his office and showed him our booking. Apparently, they began trackwork on the line between Palermo and Messina last night … scheduled to be completed tonight.

What to do? Take the 9:05a train listed on the departures board for a 32-minute ride to the next station — Santo Stefano di Camastra; detrain and board the replacement bus service to Messina.

Alrighty then.

Train ride #1 ended up being uneventful. When we got off the train, we followed all the other passengers who detrained to the waiting buses … one heading directly to Messina; the other a shuttle of sorts to a whole bunch of stations along the line.

Bus ride #1 was uneventful … though the seats were not the most comfortable, and legroom was worse than coach class on an airplane. It took us about 1½ hours to travel the 80+ miles to Messina Centrale. When not going through tunnels — and there were a lot of them — the bus followed a coastal route with scenery to entertain us.

Once at Messina Centrale, we made our way to the platform from which our train to Catania was scheduled to depart at 11:55a. As we waited, we watched ominous-looking clouds gathering overhead, but luckily the rain held off until later.

Train #2 left on time. It was an uneventful ride of 2 hrs 15 mins. Not sure if it was the time of day or what, but the passenger load was quite light. In fact, we got a 4-seat grouping all to ourselves. About an hour into the ride, it started to pour rain … loud enough that we could hear the big, heavy drops falling on the roof over the sound of the wheels on the tracks. Any scenery along the way remained hidden for the duration of our ride.

We detrained at Catania Centrale and were happy to see the sky was dry. Our replacement bus service was not due to depart for Siracusa until 2:43p … which gave us plenty of time to figure out where to wait for the bus and pick up a snack to quiet our tummies until we got to our final destination.

As luck would have it, the rain started coming down in a deluge just before the bus pulled up to the station. The driver motioned for everyone to wait until the worst of the downpour was over … otherwise we would have all been drenched to the bone.

Bus ride #2 was uneventful. By the time everyone had boarded, the rain was over … in fact, just minutes outside the city center, the roads were dry. Somehow we were first to board the bus and got the first row seats, which afforded us better legroom for the 45-minute ride to Siracusa Station.

As I mentioned at the outset, despite the unexpected change, all legs of our travel day went like clockwork. Off the bus at Siracusa Station shortly after 4:30p, we took a cab to the apartment we booked for our 5-night stay. Technically, we could have made our way on foot — 20-minute walk — or we could have taken the free shuttle bus (#105). But by this time, we were travel-weary and decided to splurge.

Though it was rather rickety, the cab got us to our destination in the center of Ortigia, an island connected to Siracusa by a bridge … and where Old Town is situated. I had messaged our arrival time to Giusy — Giusseppina — who met us at the Matteotti Royale Apartments, showed us around, collected the city tax, and recommended a whole bunch of places to visit, eat, and otherwise enjoy.

We’re very happy with the apartment … spacious … pristine … centrally located … and with balconies that runs the length of the apartment on the two exterior sides. We overlook the main drag that runs from one end of Ortigia to the other. It is not the quietest street, but the doors and windows keep out the worst of the noise … except for a flute player just down the street. He plays well, and the music is nice, so we don’t mind it. (He did stop around 10:00p.)

Once we were settled into the apartment, Mui went to Coop for groceries. When he returned, we walked over to Via Cavour, around the corner from us to a pizzeria Giusy recommended. It was a bit more touristy than we prefer, but the food was delicious … and its proximity to the apartment was a plus.

We wrapped up our evening with a stroll along Via Cavour that took us to Piazza Duomo. At that hour the cathedral was closed, so we’ll return another time to check it out. A roundabout way returned us to the apartment … with a stop at the gelateria next door. It came highly recommended, but for the first time we found the gelato too sweet and too rich. Good thing we have an apartment with a fridge, so it won’t go to waste.Leggi altro