Day 9: Sicilia la Bella & uno Sfortunato Incidente

There arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Well, it wasn't exactly like that but something seemed off. I hadn't slept very well but I had slept some. I rolled over, looked at my phone and saw it was 3:30 a.m. I removed my earplugs and it was quiet. I mean totally quiet. The train wasn't moving. There was no sound at all. Where were we? Taking a break at a small town train station somewhere? Or perhaps I'd missed it. Maybe we were crossing the Straits of Messina. Or could it be we already crossed into Italy and were in Messina already? Oh no! If that was the case, I had to wake everyone to immediately get off the train because it was continuing on to Palermo which was not our destination on this day.

I climbed out of bed, stepped down on Lori's bunk, hit the floor, exited our room and looked out the window. The lights of a sleeping city shone a couple of miles across a waterway. That was Messina. Whew, we had yet to cross into Sicily so we must've been in Villa San Giovanni waiting for that to happen. Then with a jolt, we started to slowly move or be pushed. I walked to the end of our car and opened the door to peer out. By now, there were two of us - me and a girl from another sleeper car probably in her twenties. 

For the next 15 minutes we watched the entire process as a section of about 11 cars was pushed down a track and right onto a ferry. Then another batch of cars on tracks immediately next to us came in the belly of the big boat followed by a third batch. How much did these 33 railroad cars weigh? How large was this ferry? How easy would it be to take on water and sink to the bottom of the sea? 

Leaving Italy's mainland

The back of the ferry closing

The girl eventually walked to the other end of our sleeper car exited and walked off into the ferry. I grabbed my shoes and did the same. I wandered around a little but then went back to see if Lori, by chance, was awake. She was as I ran into her outside our cabin so we climbed stairs together to the main deck. The sea breeze was cool, not cold. It felt so good after being in the stuffy sleeper car. We watched as the ferry approached Messina, the two-mile journey across the straits almost complete. Guarding the port and the city is a statue of Our Lady of the Letter, one of the names given to Mary, the mother of Jesus. According to legend, the Apostle Paul traveled through Messina some two thousand years ago as a missionary. Some of the converted locals then went with him to Palestine where they met with Mary and asked her to send a letter to the people of Messina. Written in Hebrew, it was rolled and tied with a lock of her hair. In the letter she praised them for their devotion and diligence and granted them protection. The letter ended with the words "Vos et ipsam civitatem benedicimus" or "We bless you and your city," which is written on the statue's base. 

As we returned to the sleeper cabin, we ran into Ron and April who wanted to head to the main deck, but the ferry workers told us to stay on the train. Then we watched the reverse of the process I'd watched before as each section of train rolled off the ferry and into Messina. After workers reattached the train's many segments into one, we rolled into the Messina train station. And just in time too. We had a mere 12 minutes to make our next connection from Messina to Milazzo. Once arriving there, we grabbed a taxi and headed to the seaside.

In the parking lot I stopped to take a picture with an old Fiat 500. These little windup-like cars were all the rage when I was a missionary, probably because their gas mileage was incredibly good. It was really cool to see one again. My mind immediately went back to my missionary days on board a bus in Siracusa with my companion, Anziano Teuscher. The street was windy and narrow and someone had double parked their Fiat 500 so it jutted out into the street. The driver went back and forth and back and forth but couldn't squeeze by. He finally put it in park, threw up his hands and said we were all stuck there. He could no longer go forward or backward. The passengers moaned and grumbled. Teuscher and I asked to be let out. After sizing up the situation, we looked at each other and said, "Why not?!" We lifted the front of the car and then the back and then the front and the back until it was above the curb on the sidewalk. Once back on board, the passengers cheered and we were on our way.

Giving Teuscher the old 'stink eye' in 1983

Back to our trip, we barely caught the 7 a.m. ferry to the Aeolian Islands just north of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea. There are seven islands in the volcanic archipelago or island chain. One of which is Stromboli, one of four active volcanoes in Italy. We saw it from the boat but our destination was Lipari, the largest island. Ron spent part of a day there back in his missionary days but I'd never visited. Geologists believe a series of volcanic eruptions formed the island sometime between 20,000 BC and 13,000 BC and was first inhabited in 5,000 BC. Carthaginians, Arabs, French, Romans and other peoples controlled Lipari. All I know is Lipari is downright beautiful.

Our ferry to Lipari

We dumped our packs at a waterfront business so we wouldn't have to lug them around all day. Up next, breakfast! We sat down and enjoyed a couple of pastries in the sun. Ah yes, lots of sunshine! It was going to be a great day.

After breakfast we took in a little more flavor of Lipari by wandering up the main thoroughfare. Entering a pottery shop, it was evident we were indeed in Sicily, which is known for its vibrant and colorful pottery and dishes. I especially liked the orange and yellow plates and bowls. (Psst, they'd make a great Christmas present for someone I know.) 

We chatted a bit with the owner of the shop. She asked where were from, why we were in Lipari, etc. We told her about our missionary past, our love for Italy and Italians, and showed her some old photos of us together. She got quite a kick out of it. Just another reason why I love Italians. They have a real zest for life, living and for people.

In her shop, I saw a straw fedora. This was it! The perfect chance to recreate one of my favorite photos when Ron and I served together 40 years earlier. I showed her the old photo, she laughed and told us to do it.  

Ron & I in 1983

Ron & I in 2023

I grabbed a blood orange from a fruit stand and then we ran into la regina Josefina dei capperi (queen Josephine of capers), an energetic, verbose Italian fireball of a woman. She was maybe five feet tall but what a kick. Her specialty was capers, a Mediterranean plant the produces a flavor punch used in pasta and other dishes. She related tale after tale and showed us videos, photos and other social media posts that featured her.

That same shop where we left our packs also offered cars and Vespas (motorized scooters) for rent. We decided to go for the two-wheel rides, got a map, signed our lives away and prepared for a 18-mile loop around the island. 

Prior to our departure, Lori send this photo to our kids back home

After gassing up, we hit the windy, narrow road. The sun was out but the faster we drove, the chillier it was. Our first stop was a rocky beach. Lori removed her shoes and stepped into the Tyrrhenian. Ron waded in as well. And me? Well, with so many rocks available, I just had to chuck handfuls of them into the water (and at Ron).  

The roadway was loaded with extreme hairpin curves and turns. Luckily, there weren't many cars on it. Still, everywhere you looked, whether inland or toward the sea, it was colorful and beautiful. It was fun to motor along the coast and stop and clown around along the way.

Stromboli, an active volcano,is the far island in the distance

As we climbed to the higher elevation inland, we left the main road and drove down some really narrow roadways.

One of them had high, rough stone walls on each side. I drifted a little too far to the left and we rubbed up against it. In doing so, Lori's left foot, which rested on a peg on the outside of the Vespa, took the brunt of the impact as it caused the foot to be spun around backwards. She dropped to the pavement in pain. I felt so, so bad. I've had sprained ankles, stitches and suffered other injuries over the years. But almost every single time, they were either self-inflicted or I was playing basketball, football or some other contact sport where injuries are part of a game. In other words, I knew the risk and brought those things on me. This time, Lori was hurt. And she was hurt because of me. This was the worst!  

I don't remember exactly how long it was - maybe five to eight minutes and then Lori said she was ready to climb back on the Vespa. She did and off we went. Luckily, we found a small sandwich shop/fruit/vegetable stand that was still open before it closed for the afternoon. We grabbed sandwiches, drinks and snacks. Limping, Lori grabbed a handful of small cherry tomatoes. The shop owner said, "Just take them."

"No, I'll pay for them," I said.

"No, no. They are a gift for the beautiful girl," the man replied.

Lori thought she just had a bad ankle sprain as it was starting to swell up. We both just wanted to get back to main village but we still had about a third of the island to get around in order to do so. That part of the island offered some breath-taking vistas.

Steam rises from yet another active volcano across the way

Sun worshipper

As we concluded our loop around the island, we looked back down on Lipari, saw the older, historic part of town and decided to go take a closer look. Getting there was a little hairy. We sat at an intersection trying to figure out how to do so when a man in a Vespa pulled up next to us and said, "Follow me." We wound through the neighborhood and then drove up a really steep cobblestone roadway. What was I doing? Lori already had a bum ankle and now we were on this sketchy path. Now, I was really nervous. It was so steep that I was clutching the handlebars so I wouldn't slide back into her. Luckily, we arrived without incident. We parked and slowly made our way in. Lori sat on a small retaining wall and told us to go on without her. She said she wasn't going any farther but would sit and enjoy the sunshine.

Like everywhere else we'd visited, it was amazing to walk through living history. Lipari was first inhabited in 4000 BC or before. And like other places in Italy, it had been conquered by various empires over the centuries. Archaeologists found Greek ruins on the site of the old town and surmised a Greek temple once stood where the Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew now stands. Inside, wow. I mean, here we go again. Just amazing workmanship, architecture and history. The vaults above highlighted biblical scenes like Samson and Delilah, Moses parting the Red Sea, manna in the desert, Adam and Even being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, among others.

In front of the church there are a couple of excavation ditches that show where huts once stood dating back to the Bronze Age. And next to that is a staircase built in the 10th century that connected the cathedral to the town's urban center. The pillars and arches outside the church were covered for centuries by an ancient earthquake. A keen-eyed investigator discovered them in 1978, acquired funds and they were eventually uncovered so we could view and experience them today.

Behind the church bordering the sea are steep walls that separate two harbors and surround the historic buildings. Designed to protect the people, that didn't really happen as Arab invasions followed by those of other civilizations that followed. The Spanish built a wall around the entire old town in the mid-1500s. 

 

I was relieved that the ride out of historic old town was a lot more wide and flat than how we got there. We made out way back to where we rented the Vespas, checked them in and sat down in the piazza by the sea. By now, Lori's ankle was really swelling. She was afraid to take off her shoe fearing she could not get it back on. I headed into town to try to find a pharmacy so I could get her some Ibuprofen but it was between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. so everything was closed. We sat in the piazza and enjoyed the sunshine. After 4 p.m., I made a couple more trips to the pharmacy to get medication, an ice pack and ultimately some crutches. 

We reached out to our host that night and she arrived to pick us up. It was a nice van but had some deep scratches and gouges on the outside. After the ride, we could see why. The alleys she negotiated were extremely narrow with building walls on all sides. At one point, she just scraped her way through and didn't even flinch or let off the gas.

Our Airbnb villa, i Tre Delfini (The Three Dolphins) in the small community of Pianoconte, was so pretty and vibrant with bright colors and a spectacular view of the ocean. The only issue was our room  was upstairs. (Unfortunately, climbing and negotiating stairs would be a constant theme the rest of our trip.) 

After our busy morning and especially coming off cross-country travels over the last 36 hours, it felt so good to just sit and relax, especially with the sun shining down. I think we needed it. 

View from our back balcony

April hanging out in the front balcony

After several hours of downtime, we contacted our host and asked if we could do something very American - not wait until 8 o'clock at night to eat. We got the green light so down the stairs we went to the restaurant. Because we ate so early, we had the entire place to ourselves. As we entered, a sign on the wall greeted us that translated states, "The kitchen, in and of itself, and science is up to the chef to make it into art." An artful four-course dinner? Yes please! We went with a fried something or other I can't remember to get us started. Then I ordered pasta with guanciale (fatty jowls), a fresh and loaded salad followed by strips of beef steak. As per usual, the pasta stood out as the best of the best of my dishes. The only thing the meal lacked was freshly baked bread. In the end, I was full, really full - something I'd avoided doing so far on the trip so I'd have room for my next meal. 

After dinner, Ron and I gave Lori a priesthood blessing that she would be able to have strength, move forward and enjoy the rest of our trip together. We had a sfortunato incidente (unfortunate incident) and it had been a very long day-and-a-half with a 540-mile train-train-bus-train-bus-train-sleeper train-ferry-train-taxi-ferry-Vespa-van adventure. We were tired, and now full, so off to bed we went.