Back to being tourists again …

Twenty years ago in a February issue of a UK glossy magazine I read a travel article about alternative Valentine’s Day destinations away from the popular most obvious ones and that was how I discovered Taormina in Sicily.

With my long standing love of all things Italian and my husband's love of gangster movies it seemed like the perfect destination for us. Me being me I started researching and booked a flight to Catania and a hotel nestled between Giardini Naxos and Taormina. As soon as we saw Mount Etna out of our airplane window and stepped foot on the airport tarmac it was instantly love at first sight and so when we returned back to London we booked another trip and then another trip and then another trip until in 2007 we decided we loved everything about Sicily so much that we wanted to live there and so we bought a house in Giardini Naxos.

Having a house in Sicily gives us the best of two worlds, we get to live the Sicilian way of life and still see Sicily with a tourists eye …

On our holidays to Sicily, before we bought our home, we would always book an excursion to explore somewhere new, our first excursion was to Syracuse and Ortigia, then the next one to Agrigento to visit the famed Valley of the Temples. Sometimes we used to hire a car and with our hired car we discovered Mount Etna, the Baroque towns in the south east corner of the island and The Godfather movie locations. We have always loved train journeys and so we always used to enjoy a train ride to Catania as well.

After we bought our house we carried on exploring the eastern side of Sicily in between updating and decorating our new Sicilian home and then along came our rescue dog Daisy who was found abandoned at eight weeks old in London. We vowed that we would never leave her alone and with the Sicilian summers being too hot and too busy we decided to divide our time between London and Giardini Naxos, driving twice a year via France and northern Italy then by ferry from Genova to Palermo.

Having a house in Sicily for nearly seventeen years I have to admit that we have become a little bit lapse with our tourist duties lately preferring to spend time at home and living life the Sicilian way, although we did always take Daisy to visit our favourite places. We have always found Sicily very dog friendly however there are certain historic, cultural, archaeological and UNESCO World Heritage Sites where dogs are prohibited, so there are many places we have not been able to explore since we adopted Daisy.

Last autumn we were left heartbroken after our precious furbaby gained her angel wings and crossed over rainbow bridge whilst in Sicily. Being at home in our Sicilian house we were finding it hard to be there without hearing the pitter patter of Daisy's little paws on our ceramic floors and so we still went out at the same time every morning and we walked and we walked and we walked. One morning we walked all the way to our train station which was used as a filming location in The Godfather Part III. We looked at the train timetable and decided that we would embark on a few train journeys. Also when visiting Taormina with Daisy we would usually drive up but we could not bear to do this without her and so we started taking the bus just as we used to when we first started to visit the island.

We were back to being tourists again …

There was a bit of a difference to the last time we travelled by bus, the biggest difference was they turned up on time. In the past when we first bought our house we would have to check the bus timetable pick a bus time and then hope it would turn up and if it did not arrive then we would have to hope that the next bus would come along. There would be occasions where we would just give up waiting and grab a taxi or stay down in Giardini Naxos. If the bus did turn up then we would pay the driver or buy a ticket from the ticket kiosk at our stop. Not all bus stops have a kiosk. Fast forward to nearly thirteen years and now you must pre-book your ticket online which guarantees you a seat. Tickets still can be bought in advance from ticket kiosks or you can pay the driver as you board but if there are no available seats then you are not going to be able to board and will have to wait for a less busy bus which could take quite some time during the busy tourist season. So my advice is to pre-book your tickets.

Train journeys are much more easier now too. We booked our tickets online and instead of getting our tickets validated via a machine on the platform we simply just checked in online. In Italy if you do not validate your train ticket you might find yourself being fined. Again, like the buses, our trains were always on time unlike years ago when it took us almost six hours on one occasion to take a train from Palermo airport to Taormina via Messina. The trains are also a lot more modern and comfy with air conditioning so no more evaporating in a stuffy carriage in the intense summer heat.

Our town Giardini Naxos' biggest gem is its train station which it shares with Taormina. In the 1700's Taormina was already an unmissable stop on the Grand Tour, by the second half of the 1800's Taormina felt it was necessary to meet the demands of tourism that were changing and demanding new comforts. To be well connected to the railway was equal to a declaration of existence. The Bourbons of Naples, even before Italy was united, gave the go ahead to the project of a railway line between Messina and Catania which was completed in 1866. The building of the station of Taormina and Giardini Naxos was completed in 1928. The railway station has played a very important part of cinema history when Francis Ford Coppola was taken by the charm of the place and set a scene from The Godfather Part III with Al Pacino and Diane Keaton. Our beautiful train station was cunningly disguised in the movie as Bagheria, a town actually located approximately 10km east of Palermo. The station is of an art deco Liberty style which was a unique Italian art movement that was very popular in Sicily. The ceilings are fabulous works of art and the station gives an air of being untouched by time, it still has the old first class and second class waiting rooms. The ornate ticket office has a glass case full of ancient finds from the surrounding area and if you do find yourself at our station do look up at the stunning artwork on the ceiling.

Back in February 2020 I received an Email from a researcher from UK’s Channel 5. They explained that they were making a second series of the TV documentary “The World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys” which was narrated by the British actor Bill Nighy and asked if they could interview me by phone about our historic train station and the Ferrovia Circumetnea, the little narrow-gauge railway line that circles Mount Etna with a little train that goes tumbling around the volcanic terrain. During my telephone interview they explained that they would be filming in Sicily that April and asked if I would be available for filming. Hell yes I was !!!!! Sadly Covid was just hitting the headlines and was spreading rapidly and the world then went into lockdown and I received an email to say that filming was postponed. Filming finally took place in Sicily later in 2020 with special permission whilst I was stuck in London due to Covid travel restrictions and so I missed my moment of TV fame. Booooooo !!!!! I can see why the TV producers for the documentary chose Sicily as part of their series because a train journey around the island truly is a scenic feast for the eyes. A train trip in Sicily is magical with plenty of photo opportunities.

Our first train adventure after we lost Daisy was to Messina ….

Founded by colonists from Messenia in Ancient Greece, the city of Messina grew up around the harbour, which has always been the cities focus and is now a main hub for mega cruise ships. In 1908 Messina was levelled by a disastrous earthquake and tidal wave. Monuments today are concentrated around the magnificent harbour including the Norman Cathedral with original portals and sculptures, a 15th century fountain in Piazza Duomo and a clock tower whose mechanised figures come to life everyday at noon. But more about Messina another time as this lesser known Sicilian city deserves a Blog post of its own. We had already visited Messina with Daisy and with friends a couple of times but on this occasion we decided to climb the 236 steps up to the clock tower, something that she would have hated and I am sure she would have been laughing at us whilst fluttering her angel wings. After our climb and admiration of the stunning views and without much of an appetite after losing Daisy we decided on a liquid lunch. As my regular followers will know Daisy was a true pub dog and low and behold we stumbled upon an Irish pub, I am sure that our pub dog had guided us there and so we drowned our sorrows at Dockers Irish Pub by the cruise port before taking the train back to Giardini Naxos.

Our next train journey was to Catania and we never need an excuse to visit this beautiful city. I have been working on a Top Catania Travel Tips blog post for a while so it was a perfect opportunity to explore more lesser known tourist attractions there.

Our train journey to Catania from Giardini Naxos was thrilling with the sparkling Ionian Sea to our left and Mount Etna to our right with her little villages dotted around the volcanic slopes passing olive groves, citrus fruit orchards and vineyards.

Our first destination in Catania was to be the Museo Storico dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943 (The Museum of the 1943 Allied Landings in Sicily), this fascinating museum is located just to the right of Catania Centrale train station in La Ciminiere, a modern museum complex housed in the converted old sulphur refinery of Catania. This excellent but not very well known museum had always been on our “to do” list. I had attempted to visit there by car in May but Mount Etna had other ideas and erupted violently and so when we arrived the museum had closed. As the sky above us darkened with black ash we made a hasty retreat back home before we got covered in the ash and stranded in the city. The museum is a gem in Catania and was well worth our visit but that is a story for another time too.

Catania is Sicily’s second largest city and has had its fair share of both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Whilst Catania is rich in monuments dating back to its Greek foundations the city seen today was mostly built after the massive 1693 earthquake. The rebuilding was largely carried out in an elaborate baroque style using local lava stone giving it the nickname “The City of Black and White”. It is also known as “The City Built on Lava”. The most important monuments are grouped around Piazza Duomo with its lava stone elephant and obelisk, the Duomo itself, La Pescheria (the fish market), the Roman theatre, Castello Ursino, Via Cruciferi with its baroque palazzos and Via Etnea with its shops and cafés.

After our lengthy visit to the war museum and with still not much of an appetite we opted for a light lunch and headed to Catania’s famous fish market and to one of my favourite street food vendors Scirocco Sicilian Fish Lab where we devoured a mighty cone of Fritto Misto, which is a lightly battered and deep fried medley of seafood, and also we enjoyed a fresh octopus salad under the recently installed colourful umbrella artwork whilst the fish stall holders of the market closed up for another day around us.

After our fishy lunch we went for stroll pounding the lava stone pavements which Daisy had once trod so well and found the entrance to the Roman Theatre and Odeon. The Teatro Romano was built in the second century AD and is thought to have been built on top of a pre-existing Greek theatre of which today few traces remain. This small theatre still has the well preserved Roman seating area and underground passageways. As I mentioned before dogs are prohibited in most archaeological and cultural sites and so we decided to pay it a visit. After paying our entrance fee we spotted a beautiful ginger cat having an afternoon nap amid the ruins and I could only imagine Daisy thinking “So cats are allowed and dogs are not? What is that all about?”. As you make your way into the main theatre complex you can see finds that have been excavated at the site.

After discovering the theatre we still had some time before our pre booked train journey home and so we walked up Via Etnea to the sunken remains of the Antiteatro Romano. Much of this ancient theatre is still concealed under buildings but in Roman times it would have accommodated up to sixteen thousand spectators and so what we could see was only a small portion and you can only imagine the original size buried beneath the city.

After our train journey home we planned another train trip back to Catania for more exploring.

On our second visit back to Catania we decided to visit the Badia di Sant Agata next to the Duomo and climb the hundreds of steps up to the churches cupola (dome) another activity Daisy would have hated. Sant Agata (Saint Agatha) is the beloved patron Saint of Catania. At €5 each it was well worth the money to get such great views of the city and of Mount Etna and we had timed our visit just right to listen to all the church bells ringing across the city at midday. Having spent more time in Catania last year we have got to understand the lay of the land a lot more and our climb up to the cupola put it all into perspective from a bird’s eye view.

We had planned next to visit the San Nicolò Benedictine Monastery which boasts beautiful courtyard cloisters and works of art but we had forgotten that as it was the 2nd November, All Souls Day, the monastery would be closed and so instead we explored and admired the facades of the stunning baroque palazzi that line Via Crociferi next to the monastery complex.

Our next destination was Castello Ursino where only a few weeks before the legendary Mick Jagger had been spotted having his photo taken outside. Apparently, he of the luscious lips, has fallen in love with Sicily and is looking to buy a home, I bet he won’t be purchasing a €1 house. Once the fortress of King Fredrick II the Castle once stood on a rocky cliff above the sea but an eruption from Mount Etna in 1669 resulted in the entire surrounding area becoming landlocked and the keep of the Castle was the only part left standing. The Castle is now home to the civic museum. Still with a minimal appetite we opted for Arancini with Ragù for lunch in a café in Piazza Università and then headed back to the train station and home. I missed giving Daisy bites of our Arancini under the table, she enjoyed a bite of them so much.

We really missed our little girl walking by our side on our trips but we knew she was trotting along beside us in spirit.

I hope you have enjoyed this Blog post and that it will encourage and inspire you to plan your own train adventures in Sicily and if you find yourself at Catania Centrale station do look out for the two cute and friendly calico cats who frequent the stations café.

As a larger dog sadly Daisy did not get to travel by train in Sicily which she would have loved. Recently rules have changed for larger four legged companions travelling by train in Italy.

Small dogs, provided that they are in a pet carrier that does not exceed 70 x 30 x 50 cm, can travel free of charge in any class carriage. Larger dogs can now travel provided they have a leash and are muzzled plus a ticket must be purchased for them at half the regular price of a second class or standard class ticket. You must have your dogs EU pet passport or EU animal health certificate, without this you will be fined if checked by train inspectors and forced to get off the train at the next station.

It is going to be tough going back to Sicily this spring without Daisy but are looking forward to planning more adventures with our new rescue puppy Duke and introducing him to all her friends, watch this space !!!!!

Keep posted for My Top Catania Travel Tips

and more new Blog posts coming soon !!!!!

Giardini-Taormina Stazione