We have noticed that the church bells are much more prominent in this part of Sicily than they were on the north coast. We woke to the sound of initially one bell, which became steadily more urgent and insistent, to be joined by those from 4 or 5 other nearby churches. You have no excuse for being late for Mass, although the bells are less tuneful than we would hear at home. I have visions of a lone choir boy being given the task of calling the faithful with the bell, but can't work out if is a pleasure or a chore for him.
We were able to complete checking in to the marina this morning, and for the first time ever, I was presented with papers filled in from a previous stay of the boat at the marina, and quoting the previous owners name. Their records are clearly pretty impressive, given that it must have been at least 7 years ago that Equinox would have visited. The lady in the office then noticed that I had crossed out the previous owners details and then needed to see documentation relating to us. All done with a smile and good grace.
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| You can just see the railway lines down by the sea |
As we had not been able to stop at Toarmina on our way here, we decided to visit by train. The tickets were bought on line and we headed off in good time to walk to the station. This was a very good precaution. As we walked up the road to the station, we could see that the level crossing gates just before the station were down. They must have been down for more than 5 minutes before we arrived at the crossing. We then stood and waited, .... and waited..... and waited. No trains came for a while, and then one appeared, but after it had passed, the gates did not open. We were starting to worry that they were going to be down until our train came through, which would have meant that we would miss it. Online maps are wonderful things, and we found another route which would take us through a tunnel under the railway line, so we decided that doing this would be the best way of ensuring that we got to the station before our train. We walked about another 6 or 7 minutes but we did eventually arrive at the station. While we were waiting we watched the gates. Over about 10 minutes another 2 trains came through and then eventually the gates opened. By this time another pedestrian heading for the same train as us had also decided not to wait any longer. She squeezed through a small gap between the gates, and crossed the tracks.
The train was busy, with a lot of other people heading to Toarmina and others heading on towards Messina. The service was efficient, clean and cheap. It is easy to see why so many people are using the trains here.
The station for Toarmina is pretty much at sea level, and we were able to confirm that the mooring buoys are not yet out. The town of Toarmina however is perched on cliffs high above the sea, and we set off in company of a number of other tourists, to follow a steep, narrow and windy footpath up to the town. At the end of the day, my phone showed that I had climbed 61 floors!
Toarmina is reputedly the best known resort in Sicily, retaining its hill town charm despite the number of visitors it gets. leading away from the main pedestrian routes there are tiny side alleys, leading up of down the hillside and many of these are individually decorated. TE Laurence had a villa here in the 1920's. The streets are still filled with people wandering around. The views over Toarmina bay are spectacular, there are countless restaurants serving the visitors. It is very much a place to wander, window shop and people watch. We spent a pleasant time doing all of these, and then when we went to see the ancient Greek / Roman theatre. Unfortunately, the queue to get in was going to take more time than we had available, and so we had to miss out on this site for this visit. We think that there is a good chance that we will pass this way again later in our trip, so we will have to try again then (another 61 floors to climb?).
Tricia was very amused over lunch by a couple who sat at the next table to us. They were more interested in taking photos of their food than actually eating it. They seemed to discuss with the waiter what were the most attractive dishes, and then after ordering, they both disappeared to the bathrooms, presumably to check hair, makeup etc. When the food came they took pictures of it on its own, then moved the chairs to different positions round the table and took more photos, then took pictures of themselves with the food and then, I believe, they actually ate it. All of this was going on behind my back so apart from being jostled occasionally, I was unaware of exactly what was occurring. The power of social media!
The marina now has three large superyachts in port. The poor guy with the smallest must feel decidedly overshadowed by the larger 2. The one closest to us is apparently brand new, only launched in 2022. There is great interest from the townsfolk, who come down in the evening to stroll and a good look at it.
Miles Today - 0
Miles 2022 - 258
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