View from Piazza Duomo in Taormina
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]Ok, I admit it. Three days in Palermo was not enough. Work intruded and left me with a lingering pang of mission-not-completely-accomplished. There was more to eat, different streets to wander down, free shuttles to jump on and off of and, this might only appeal to fellow urbanites out there, more genuine pulse and energy to absorb. I suppose we’ll just have to come back and next time, we’ll splurge a bit more on accommodation. You know, there was nothing wrong with the place, per se. The location was bang on, the price was basically unbeatable (I might have had something to do with picking this place now that I think about it), but it missed that “wow, this is a nice place; we could stay here for a while”.Leaving unfinished travel business behind is OK when you’re on a scouting trip. Admittedly, this is a rather comprehensive survey, what with taking a number of months to scratch the surface of Italy. Nonetheless though, being the kind of people that are only spontaneous when we have a plan to back it up, it’s acceptable leaving when wanting more. In fact it’s the ideal outcome.
True to form on Sicily, we turned our backs on Trenitalia yet again and shouldered our bags and set off for the Palermo bus station; a centrally located affair next to the train station that is just as connected as one would expect the capital of an island to be. Despite initially thinking we’d go via Messina and switch there to a Taormina bound bus, we shaved off 45mins of travel time at no cost at all by going back to our old stomping ground Catania for the layover. There we had an easy transition to the Interbus that took us north, north east to Taormina. This has been said ad nauseum already, but here goes again; the buses on Sicily work. The locals use them, at least the tiny minority that doesn’t prefer to dress themselves in a Fiat Panda or some other three or four wheeled contraption that largely (and quite unfairly) resembles wrapping yourself in aluminum foil and taking off. On the flip-side, were these vehicles any larger, traffic would not move at all.
Even if riding the public bus system is somehow something that is beneath you, I’d recommend taking the bus to Taormina purely for the entertainment value of it. The experience that comes closest to riding the southern approach to Taormina, that is that displays the awe-inspiring skill of the drivers of these buses that thread the needle of the switchbacks, is the road from Sorrento to the Amalfi coast on the Italian mainland. At no other point in my life have I been as thankful that I wasn’t driving, let alone a bus! These drivers earn respect in addition to their pay. At every turn they appear to defy physics only to do it again and this time while meeting another bus. Parked cars on the side and still nothing got scratched. After that impressive ascent, we finally were in Taormina. Thanks to the gracious offer of the host to have her son pick us up, we were quickly shuttled up from the bus station to a home that I think up till now may only have existed in our dreams. More about that later though.
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