Porto di Messina

Well everything I’ve read about public transport in Sicily is true - nothing runs on time and most services get cancelled. But I thought I could plan my way around that. Unfortunately not to be.

When researching how to get to Sicily I read we could get a ferry direct from Reggio Calabria so that is where I organised for us to drop our hire car off at. Thankfully the lady at Europcar mentioned that the ferries weren’t operating from Reggio Calabria port so we didn’t waste time and money getting there only to discover it was closed. Instead we had to get a taxi to Villa San Giovanni, a €40 trip. We did manage to get straight onto a ferry to Messina but I think that was the only easy part of the day.

When planning the trip google maps had the distance from the ferry port to the train station as a short walk, when in fact it was going to be about a 40min walk. Luckily for a us a lady took pity on us and offered to drive us to the train station herself. Funny thing was she didn’t speak a word of English, and I mean not a word, but we (meaning I) happily jumped in her car and trusted she would get us there. Brad was a bit more apprehensive, he was thinking along the lines of serial killer. I was even able to use my valuable Italian lessons. Lol. Not really. I barely managed to introduce myself. Anyway my trust in her was fulfilled and she happily dropped us at the train station. She restored my faith in people.

Next step in getting to Taormina, our destination for today, was to catch a train. Google and the train sites said trains leave every half hour. And how gullible was I to believe that. We had about an hour and a half wait and then had to cross our fingers it wasn’t delayed or cancelled like the earlier two trains. It eventually arrived and we finally made it to Taormina, only to discover a shortage of taxis. Another long wait but finally we made it to our accommodation for the next two days. Very weary and regretting adding Sicily to our trip, we hope our day tomorrow makes this long travel day worthwhile.Read more