Around The World – Palermo Italy
I awoke on the ferry from Napoli to Palermo thanks to my biological alarm clock a few minutes before they started blaring the wake-up announcement over the PA speaker in the hallway and on a little speaker in my cabin. It was 5:30 AM, an evil time if there ever was one. I had a tiny shower and got dressed, packed up and watched some more videos. At 6:30 AM, they made the announcement that walk-on passengers can now disembark.
I walked out into the reception area and encountered about 20 people standing in front of the levator, which was clearly switched off. Nobody disembarking yet, I was tricked again! I walked over to the lounge and read my book for about 15 minutes until the lift started working. I went down the 4 floors and out the back of the ship. All in all, I was happy with the ship, just not the price. They did make up for it by letting me sleep on board on the non-sailing night.
The port is right in the heart of Palermo, so a hundred meters rolling down a sidestreet brought me to a fairly major road. I waited about 10 minutes for a taxi to come past, then I spotted one pull into the gas station next to where I was standing. I rolled over and he looked at the address, turned on the meter and did a great job of taking me over. He spoke English well and seemed sincerely nice and we had a great conversation. E11 later I was at the front door of my Airbnb.
Now, it’s 7:30 AM which is a bad check-in time for a hotel or an Airbnb, but I had earlier let my host know exactly what the ferry timetable was and the delay on the first night and she said just arrive at any time. I pressed the buzzer and she came down to let me in, in her PJs. I felt bad but she was very accepting of my situation. She gave me the choice of her two available rooms, so I took the one with the en-suite bathroom and a loft bed, a bit of an adventure! After the short sleep last night I crawled into bed and slept for another 3 hours and finally dragged myself downstairs.
My host gave me a map of the area and showed me a good walking tour from her place, past the cathedral, down a main street to the waterfront, across the marina, back up to the Teatro Massimo, through an outdoor market area and back to her place. That was about 5 hours, including an hour wasted waiting for the hop-on, hop-off bus. I spotted the bus company sign that said it came to this location every 30 minutes. After 45 minutes I downloaded the company’s app that does real-time tracking of the bus. I watched it approach on my phone, then it went off its marked course two blocks from me and away out of the city. Bastards!
I came back and rested for a while and then went to find a place to get my clothes washed. They were kinda beyond polite company smelling… Many European Airbnb hosts have washing machines but no dryer, everything is hung on a line and subject to the sun, wind and rain. I found a laundry place somewhat nearby but they said, using the Google Translate app, that if I drop off tonight Thursday, they only work half day Friday, closed Saturday and Sunday so I’ll get them back on Monday. Wow. Yeah, not fitting into my travel schedule or my necessity to be clothed.
I then went on a hunt for dinner. You know how this is going to go already, right? Everything here is a pizzeria. Well, 99%. I just wanted a sit-down place where I could have a giant bowl of pasta with some sauce, that was open. Hold on because this is a bit of an epic tale. It was 6:30 PM and I struck out on two places I found on Google Maps because they don’t open until 8PM. I then found a place listed open 10 AM – 1 AM. Yay, somebody who knows that customers might be hungry and come in for a meal at any time. I walked up and spotted an outdoor seating area with a typical giant plastic tent with roof and sides, you see this all over here. A waitress comes out who speaks no English so with waving hands and pointing at wrists, I finally discover they don’t open until 8 PM! I show her the opening times on the Google and she says 8 again. It’s 7 PM by now and I’m done walking and hunting so I point to the table, then to me, making sit down motions. She says yes, so I sit down and submitted a correction to Google for the correct opening times, and read my book for a while.
I decide I should check the menu so I’m ready to go right at 8. And… it’s a high-end seafood place. Ugh. With things like spaghetti with sea urchins and squid ink. Not happening. I spotted a fettucini with prawns and set my heart on it. Still having time on my hands, I went to TripAdvisor and found the entry for the restaurant. Someone had helpfully taken a picture of this dish, it showed the noodles with a single, giant, unpeeled, head-still-on prawn on top. Come on guys, I don’t want all the work to get the shrimp out of its exoskeleton, that’s your job in the kitchen. Another person took a picture of some kind of noodle with a sauce and several peeled smaller shrimp – this is the dinner for me! I showed her the picture and then waved my finger over the menu, like which item is this? She walked off to the kitchen and talked with the chef. She came back and said 18. I’m guessing this item isn’t currently on the menu but they’ll make it for 18 euros. I say Si Si Si and she walks away.
At 8 PM, she walks over with her order pad in her hand and looks at me like it’s time to order. I try to explain “that thing we already agreed on” and went to hunt for the picture on my phone again. She finally says “Oh si” and writes down the name. Hmmm, is she screwing with me on purpose? Anyway. She waves her finger over the appetizer section of the menu, and I pick “Marinated shrimp”. She gives a humph sound and writes it down. We agree on a glass of red wine and she walks away.
So back she comes with a glass of white wine. I know she’s just messing with me now, so I play along and do the whole wine-connisseur-swirl-and-sniff thing and agree to take it. She then brings out the appetizer. 7 decent-size shrimp, uncooked, shell peeled but the head still on, two small slices of anchovies and half an artichoke heart. And everything is cold. I don’t know what the marinade was made with but the shrimp tasted exactly like raw shrimp. I figured it’s safe to eat here but I would never eat raw shrimp back in Thailand or as the Thais call it “fresh shrimp.” I ate the artichoke heart and skipped the anchovies.
The main meal came, exactly as in the picture and it was delicious. I could have had two helpings but I didn’t want to push my luck. I asked for the check and it showed a 10% discount for I have no idea what. Anyway, the strangest meal I’ve had in a long time.
As I was walking home, I picked up two liters of pineapple juice and a massive pastry turnover thing filled with nutella. Mmmm.
My host and I put my clothes in the washing machine and I went up to my loft and watched videos until I fell asleep.
The next morning was of course lazy and watching videos. Then I started my trip planning for the next few legs, because locations, schedules, dates and interconnections are now critical. I only have 15 days to go until I need to be in Istanbul for my flight back to Bangkok, I can’t believe I’m almost finished! And I just read about the bombing there this morning. Damn. I have no choice but to leave from that airport, but I can limit my time in the city, effectively managing my security. I’ll extend my time in Greece and only visit some of the small seaside villages in Turkey where I hope nobody will blow anything up.
Southern Italy sucks for trains, there’s nothing that goes across from Sicily to the south-east coast to Bari or Brindisi where I’ll grab the ferry to Greece. Using the Eurail web site, I plot out the most direct way to get there which goes all the way back up to to Napoli and then back down the east coast, oh well. It leaves here at 9:10 PM, changes in Napoli around midnight and gets to Bari around noon. My first class Eurail pass means I’ll have a decent seat by myself if it’s 2-1 seating or a seating cabin with up to 3 others so it might not be too uncomfortable to sleep. Cross your fingers I can score a seat where I can lie down.
I look into a ferry from Brindisi to the Greek coastal port of Igoumenitsa. It’s Garibaldi Lines, same as I took from Morocco to Napoli. There are some seriously bad reviews of this ship so I looked from Bari to Igoumenitsa, just up the coast a bit. This means a shorter train ride but a longer ferry ride. The SuperFast ferry got great reviews, and I get a comfy chair or possibly a bed in a 6-bed dorm room, for *free* with my first class Eurail pass, so that’s a win-win.
I will leave Bari at 7:30 PM and arrive in Igoumenitsa at 5:30 AM and will then go to the bus station which has a 9:30 AM run to Thessaloniki, 4 hours away. I’ll stay there for a few days and then plot my last few legs before hitting Istanbul. I’ll be knackered after a night on a seat in a train and a night in a seat on a ferry or a bed if I get lucky, but it gets me closer to my goal.
I walked about half an hour to the train station to lock in my ticket. This is going to be tricky rolling the suitcase this distance tomorrow but the sidewalks are quite good, well-worn stone all the way, shouldn’t be too bad on the wheels. I showed the ticket agent my desired itinerary from the Eurail app on my phone. He’s banging away on the computer for a while, the little old ladies behind me in line are getting all sigh-and-wave-their-hands-in-the-air. Another lady in the office walked over to help. They couldn’t find the train going to Napoli, but found one almost the same but changing in Salerno which an hour south of Napoli, works for me. The “reservation fee” was E49, yuck. I asked about a sleeper and the lady said I would have to pay full fare, over E200 so I said no, I’ll keep the seat.
I walked through another open-air market when it started to drizzle. I turned into a cafe and asked for hot chocolate. The man said “cafe?” I said “chocolate” and made a drinking-from-a-cup motion. He finally figured it out and I read my book until the rain stopped. Most coffee shops around the world seem to be able to do hot chocolate but it must be pretty rare because I always get puzzled looks.
Train plans in hand, I walked back to my place and booked Airbnbs in Bari for one night and Thessaloniki for three nights. That takes me to January 22, 9 days until my last flight. I just got a message from my host in Thessaloniki that they will pick me up from the bus station! Woo hoo!
Upon the recommentation of my host, I went to a restaurant called Ke Palle. It’s a takeaway shop that makes “arancia”, a kind of thin-crust dough ball about the size of a baseball / cricket ball that can contain dozens of ingredients, but they all have rice, spices and then the customization. I had one with spinach and mozzarella another with quattro formaggi. Very tasty and only E2 each.
I walked back through a new set of twisty little streets, one of which seemed to be the karaoke center of the city, I gave it a pass. Once home, I found the rest of my clothes were dry, so I’m ready to pack up in the morning, spend the day walking around the city one more time, then I begin a brutal, 3 day train-ferry-bus ride to Thessalonika. Yay me!
I found Palermo quite charming with great streets and interesting little shops. Put it on your itinerary if you’ve got time to spend in Sicily.
