Sicily

A nice swim early in the morning was a good start, knowing I had a big climb ahead, just to make it back to Palmi, where I had been the day before. Should I even mention the next wrong turn I took? No, I won’t, as it was just half a mile, but that of course uphill; at least riding down was quick. So, after all this suffering, I was back on the correct heading, making good progress, finally. The view were quite stunning. After some more climbing, it was a beautiful descent into the town of Bagnara Calabra, then it was a straight line to the scenic town of Scilla, with tiny streets, a hidden harbor and a large castle.

The funny thing is that I was sure it was my final destination, Reggio, from the far, but Reggio wouldn’t come so easily, it was still some 25 km away. The one thing that did show up was Sicily, now I definitely felt like in the finish line. The better half of the last stretch was rather of an anti-climax; it took me through the outskirts and satellite towns of Reggio, which are less than memorable…and, finally, I arrive to the center of Reggio.

Here, at the main railway station, I basically got the same information, which is that getting to Austria by rail with your bike was going to be an ordeal, they are not really bike friendly, are they? Somehow, even though Reggio is a pretty town with some amazing renaissance mansions and museums, I felt compelled to make it over to Sicily, now that it was so close. So I go to the small port (the main port was some 10 miles – and all the way back where I came from) to get a ticket. The guy behind the counter looks at me, and says, in broken English, that the bike was going to be an issue; and that my only chance is to back-track to the main port. They are not really bike friendly, are they? As you can imagine, I was rather tired, the horror stories of the previous day still taking a toll on me. No way, I told myself, no more back-tracking, I am going over. So I waited for the ferry to pull in and talked with the sailors of the ferry. “No problem”, one shouts, “as long as you buy me an ice-cream”. (Remark: I have no collection whatsoever of this story now, twelve years later). So, a little bribery does not hurt, does it? We put the bike in the back of the ferry and, as there was still an hour before departure, he drags me to this ice-cream place. And he starts shoving Cornettos into a plastic bag, the only thing he did not mention that I was to buy ice-cream not just for him, but the entire crew. Oh well, the cost of the ice-cream was triple that of the ferry ticket, but at least I made it to Messina, the city across Reggio. There I had a nice hotel booked, turned on the A/C and fell asleep in the clean linen.