Adventure to Sicily

Oh where to start. Talking to some other tourists and the people that worked at the hostel, I was told my best option was to take the bus from Positano to Amalfi. Then get on another bus to Salerno, and then a train from Salerno to Taormina. That was the plan and it would have been nice. The day turned out as follows.

I got up at 5:30 and walked to the bus stop to catch the 6am bus to Amalfi. Didn't show up. Then at 6:30 a bus to Salerno showed up (when everyone told me there wasn't a bus directly to Salerno), so I thought my day was going to be seamless. I got on the bus and it wasn't possible to buy a ticket on it (even though people told me I could). The driver was extremely nice and let me get on the bus, and then in Amalfi I hopped off and quickly bought a ticket. Twisted my ankle rushing to the Tabbachi to get my ticket, but all ok. Then I get to Salerno 2 hours before the train was scheduled to leave. Train is full. No seats available. All the direct trains are full, according to the ticket vending machine. So I stood in line to talk to someone that works there. He said "yes all trains are full, not possible to get to Taormina". That was the first time I experienced that, it was always easy to get on any train. Apparently getting on and off Sicily is quite difficult. Which makes me nervous about my trip back to Rome to fly out. Anyways, so then I pull my Italy book out and start playing with the ticket machine, to see what my options are because the guy behind the desk was not going to help me. I decided to at least make it to the town right across from Sicily and see what happens. I book that train that leaves at 1pm, and up walks Vicki, coincidentally also heading to Taormina. Told her about the train, and she was in the same situation, assuming she could just get the ticket that day. So we set out on this adventure together, having no idea where we would end up for the night.

We had lunch in Salerno, walked around asking people for an internet point, but Salerno doesn't get many tourists so they don't really have one. Then we took the train to Villa San Giovanni (something like that, don't have my guidebook on me). As we got off, the ferries to Messina were right there, so we hopped on a ferry to Sicily. And then we took a local train from Messina to Taormina. Why couldn't the man at the train station in Salerno have told us that you can get there, just not on the direct train? So we were so happy we made it. Then we had to take the bus from the train station up the hill to Taormina. That is when looking at my hotel information I realized that they had lied, and that they weren't actually in Taormina, but a town 20km up the coast. I booked the hotel room because I couldn't find a hostel, and told myself that it would be my "splurge" night of a nice hotel. Well by that point it was dark, no buses were going to the town my hotel was in and it would have probably cost more than the room to take a taxi there. So I decided to truck with Vicki to her hostel and hope they have an extra bed available.

We followed the directions to the hostel and had to keep asking locals which direction to go. It was pitch black at this point with few street lights. Sicily definitely seems to be where all of the Italians flock to, to enjoy the beaches and flee from all of the tourists up north. Lots of tourists here, just all Italian tourists.

Walking away from the town, it seemed odd that the hostel was in a neighborhood. Well we found the street and address, and it wasn't the hostel. It was a sketchy little B&B with an old woman sitting on the porch. She said the hostel was "finished" and that we could stay there for 60 euros. We were quite confused so walked a little further down the road and found a hotel and went to ask them. They explained that the hostel moved about a year ago, but that the guide books haven't properly updated the directions and that we walked about 2km the wrong way. Completely desperate, we asked them if we could grab a drink and decide what to do. So we had a beer and tried calling the hostel. None of the numbers Vicki had worked, because they had moved. We asked the woman at reception how much it would be for one room for one night. She said 50 euros. At that point we were so exhausted we said ok. So we both had different accomodations booked but ended up staying there. She definitely gave us a deal because of how late it was, how tired we probably looked, and knowing that if they had told us anything more expensive we would have left. So giving us a deal, they at least made 50 euros that night. So my day from hostel to hotel was a 15 hour adventure...

We then asked if they closed the front door, because we were going to go try and find dinner. She explained how to get in past 11, but said that if we wanted they had a restaurant downstairs by the pool. We looked at each other like "what!? you have a pool!?". So we put our stuff in our room, quickly freshened up, and went to dinner downstairs. Then I threw on my bikini, took a quick dip under the stars by myself which was fabulous, and went to bed. It was the best night sleep I've had in over a week. It was also the best shower I've had in a long time. It's amazing how roughing it a bit makes you appreciate every little detail of a simple hotel.

This morning we had breakfast at our savior hotel, and then trekked back to town and found Vicki's hostel, where I am paying them by the hour to leave my luggage. After a bit of touring Taormina, I'll eat lunch, say bye to Vicki and take the bus down to the train station, destination Siracusa. Hopefully it won't take me that long to get there!