Return to Palermo

June 14, 2019

To Palermo

Today’s eleven mile ride is broken into three segments: a flattish seven mile ride from Scilla to Villa San Giovanni, the ferry port for the ferry to Messina; the three mile ride along the Messina harbor to the central train station that is busy, but totally flat; and the one mile ride from the Palermo station to our hotel that is likewise busy but totally flat. Easy, easier, easiest. There’s nothing more to be said about such rides.

Well, on second thought there are a few things to be said about the initial seven miles. First off, it was surprisingly foggy when we left our room in Scilla at 8:45. We haven’t seen conditions like this in nearly two months. Secondly, we’re on the clock and Rachael is cracking the whip to keep us moving. The ferry leaves at ten, leaving us only an hour and a quarter to cover a flattish seven miles. I can see that it grates on her every time I stop to take a photo of the fog, and when I try to reassure her that we have an abundance of time.

And we do have an abundance of time. We arrive at 8:30. Our ship is already in harbor unloading, and the last of the arriving cars is just emptying from the ship as we pull up and I walk over to the ticket office.

Going down to breakfast at Le Pomelie B&B. Another steep, narrow set of stairs to manage.

A rare sight. It made for a refreshing ride to the ferry.

Looking across the Strait of Messina to Sicily. So I give up - what sort of craft is this? Notice the clutch of guys standing up in the crows nest.

So if you’ve been an attentive reader and have a long memory, you’ll recall that when we caught this ferry going in the other direction seven weeks ago the vehicle loading was extremely slow because of the sharp depression at the end of the ship’s loading ramp - cars had to come to a full standstill at the end of the ramp and then inch forward, their drivers hoping not to bottom out. It took forever for our ship to depart.

Not today though. The tide must be on the right level, because the cars just roll smoothly on. By the time I make it back from the ticket gate, loading is almost done. We’re flagged on, and the ship departs soon after - a least fifteen minutes early! It looks to me like it doesn’t quite operate a fixed schedule, but just sails when it’s full so it can get more runs in.

Rachael is too modest and generous of spirit to say I Told You So, so I’ll do it for her. For just this once, she’s right - it’s a good thing she kept us on task, because if we were ten minutes later we’d be watching the ship depart when we arrived and would be waiting for another hour or more. Thanks, Rachael! Attagirl!

Our bikes, stuck at the stern of the ship.

Looking back at the mainland from the ferry. If it were a clear day I imagine you could see Scilla on the left.

It’s a bit foggy over south Messina still, but it’s burning off quickly.

And, it’s especially great that we caught this early departing sailing, because it arrives in Messina fifteen minutes early too. Even though we’re stuck at the rear of the ship (cars were packed in too tightly for us to squeeze between them and work our way to the front), unloading goes quickly also and we’re soon on land again and biking along to the harbor toward Messina Centrale.

When we reach the station and check the departure board, we see that we’re so early that if we hurry we can just make the train that departs in twelve minutes - a whole three hours before the one we were planning on. Rachael dashes to a shop to get sandwiches to tide us over the three hour ride while I get tickets (bikes are free this time, as they should be) and we rush to the departure platform. We’re lucky that there are elevators, or we’d have never made it; but we arrive with about a minute to spare, quickly board, and are on our way.

For some reason I didn’t take a photo on the train of our bikes in the baggage car, just leaning against the wall because there are no hangers or railings to attach to - like I said, there’s a wide range of physical support on Italian trains for placing your bike.

And for some reason I didn’t take the camera with me when I hurried back to the bikes after the conductor checked our tickets, asked if we had bikes, and struggled to communicate something before finally saying ‘cresh’ And pointing toward the rear of the train. Crash! When I reached them, our bikes were lying peacefully on a heap on the floor. I picked them up carefully, said a small prayer that nothing was broken, and managed to tie them up to the wall using the straps from our rear racks.

The trip went fine. Even though it’s a regional it made few stops and fairly flew in between them, screaming through tunnels much of the way. We arrive in Palermo three hours early, and the bikes are miraculously both fine. We head post haste to a cafe for a badly needed lunch before biking to our hotel, passing on the way through the bicycle street where we had taken our bikes for emergency servicing almost three months ago now.

In Palermo

One of the mental games I play when I struggling to fall asleep at night is to replay the tour in reverse, trying to recall every place we stayed and something about the hotel our room we stayed in. I’m usually quite good at this, and even by the end of the tour can usually recall something about nearly every place we’ve stayed. Oddly enough though, I’ve drawn a complete blank on Palermo. All I can recall is that it’s only a few blocks from the bicycle street. Very strange - maybe it’s the arrival jet lag that blanked it out.

As soon as we pull into the alley though, it comes back; and I immediately recognize Mrs Marcella when she greets us at the door. She and one of her sons check us in and show us to our room, and then we go with her to their storage unit to retrieve our suitcases. They’re stuck way up and at the rear of the small room, not much more than a storage closet. She has to climb up on a desk and past other stored articles to reach our suitcases, which she hands down to me and then I pass on to Rachael.

Home!

Le Pomelie B&B is on the top floor of this small palace. No elevator, but there’s safe storage on the ground floor for the bikes. A nice little place in an excellent location. If we ever return to this city we’d consider staying here again.

It’s too hot for either of us to care a whit about seeing Palermo this afternoon. We’re here for three nights, so there’s no rush. We hang around the room until about seven and then set off in search of dinner. We find one in a very attractive place - an open air cafe in San Giuseppe plaza, staring up at the plaster-spattered walls of an unrestored palace, enjoying the shade a surprisingly refreshing evening, and the street life. As we dine we enjoy two musical acts in succession, both very good. The first is a duo from Messina playing and singing jazz a la New Orleans; and the other is a trio singing in Italian, performing what sounds to our ears like more traditional, local music. A delightful evening.

I’ve included videos of both acts. I’ve included a third video also though, of a pair of twin young boys dancing spontaneously to the tune of the second act. If you only watch one video of the whole tour, watch this one - the boys are quite remarkable, and just won’t stop. They keep it up for like ten minutes, pausing only for a breather between numbers or to wipe sweat from their eyes.

And if you only watch two videos from the tour, save the second one for tomorrow and the bike ride to Monreale.

Just a pretty street we passed on the way to dinner.

Image not found :( — We enjoyed looking up at the distressed facade of this palace as we waited for our server to arrive.

You see a lot of buildings like this in Palermo. This one at least looks like it’s occupied.

The second act was good too, but especially since they activated the his dynamic duo.

In Quattro Canti, a famous beauty spot in central Palermo.

Praetoria Fountain. This place feels so different now than it did three months ago - the evenings are warm, the streets full and alive.

Ride stats today: 11 miles, 300’; for the tour: 2,375 miles, 149,600’

Today's ride: 11 miles (18 km)
Total: 2,417 miles (3,890 km)

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Kathleen JonesYou're right about that video of the boys, Scott. Especially loved your laughter in there too.
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Kathleen JonesThey were such an amazing act to watch. I suspect they’re exhausting for the parents, but great for us.
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5 years ago

Jen RahnI was laughing at loud with you at the video of the twins! So glad you were able to include that. What a tremendous bundle of energy!

Funny also .. when you were talking about your game of playing your tour in reverse to get to sleep, I was imagining a video of you and Rachael pedaling backwards up one of those big hills. This image will keep me laughing for a few days, I'm sure.
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5 years ago

Bruce LellmanGreat video of the two boys. In a couple of days Andrea and I will reenact their antics to show you how excited we are to see you again.
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanGreat! We’ll bring the camera and post it in the blog.
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5 years ago

Sue PriceAh, what fun those two were! So adorable and full of energy! Good thing there was lots of room!
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5 years ago