Dave the Nomad

As I mentioned before, I decided to take a night train to Palermo, Sicily and celebrate Thanksgiving with some delicious Sicilian delicacies. For those not keen on geography, Sicily is an island, and so I was a bit perplexed as to how I was going to take a train the whole way there without a tunnel or bridge. I took to some online researching and found out they drive the train onto a ferry, and ship it across. As this seemed like a fantastic idea to me, and worth the novelty. I set my alarm for 4:30 am to watch the ensuing train-water adventure.

It is quite odd to get off you train and step onto a boat with steep stairs rising to the decks above. I was groggy and actually slept well, so I decided to just get out, snap a few shots and climb back into my cozy nook. Around 6:30 am I was woken up by a small Italian going “Problema, Problema,” and motioning us to the doors. I got off the train in Messina, and after a good bit of confusion and unhelpful personnel found out a strike had just started, and no trains would be going anywhere today.

I laughed and immediately thought of how this would be met in America: PANDAMONIA. I can envision CNN’s coverage of the ‘Thanksgiving Day Strike 2008′ and creating a sensationalistic portrait of crying families, filled with angry screaming in the background as news reporters fought through to bring back several heartfelt stories from people, “just trying to get home.” In Sicily though, the only chaos was the small mob for the buses. I wasn’t really in a rush, and knew if no other trains were coming, then this mob would eventually disappear, and I might avoid a cramped bus seat next to a man who doesn’t know what the word deodorant means. So I bought a ticket for a bus a couple hours later, found some breakfast, and sat by a fountain to the chagrin of several old wiry men.

The bus ride to Palermo was stunning. The roads follow the winding coast and are met by beautiful cove views on the north and green mountains and hills on the south. For about an hour of the trip my views consisted of looking at a beautiful valley in some degree of habitation for a minute, and then a dark tunnel for a minute or two. It was like watching a strobe light in super slow motion, but still a great Thanksgiving Day afternoon even without football.

I found my hostel easily, and settled down with my computer on my balcony. I was able to Skype home and talk to my family for several hours, and was quite sad when they finally left to attend the feast. The rest of tonight was spent eating delicious pasta, cannolis, and a Sicilian specialty called arronyo. Arronyo are a ball with meat and sauce in the middle surrounding by flavored rice, and the whole thing is then deep fried. It wasn’t pumpkin pie, but I would be back tomorrow for another!

Tomorrow I’ll spend some more time exploring this war torn city, but for now I’m wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Tags: Messina, Palermo, Sicily, Thanksgiving, Train on Ferry

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 1:55 am and is filed under Friends, Odd Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.