Italian Ramblings 4/10-16/10; Part 1 getting there, the train ferry and journey to Locri
Once the green light for international travel for the masses was given, I quickly researched the logistics of how viable a foreign holiday in October was. Clearly, it was going to be a little more expensive than normal but not astronomically so. The testing requirements weren't that bad for Italy as they are happier with just a cheaper antigen test over there. Thus, I booked my outward flights. The choice of flights was reduced compared to pre-pandemic, so I ended up spying an opportunity to do some interesting rail journeys and to link my flights to a one night hotel stay which ensured it counted as a packaged holiday- should anything go wrong I would therefore have slightly more entrenched rights.
4/10
I got an Uber down to Sheffield station, which very early on a Monday morning wasn't easy due to the reduced nightlife these days, so I allowed plenty of time for this. After multiple attempts I got an Uber and the driver was fantastic. This meant I arrived early enough for the 0345 Transpennine service to Manchester Airport, although the station was locked when I arrived. I had a cheap advance booked on the next service, but I required a test pre-departure at Manchester Airport and I was increasingly concerned about how long all this would take, so I bought an anytime single to be able to travel on the earlier service. The anytime fare is a rip off, but then I saw it was only £9.90 to go first class, which I did as I suspected I would get the full compartment to myself for the journey and would keep me away from other people and any unsavoury characters that might be travelling at such an hour; I'd had naff all sleep having got home late from the class 40 railtour described above, so knew I would be a bit irritable on this leg- this was a sound investment and it worked out perfectly. The journey was a pleasant one and the TP train took the normal route for Northern services via Romiley rather than the usual TP route via Stockport. First stop was Manchester Piccadilly, where this train has quite the dwell- another factor for my 1st class upgrade was that my compartment stayed warm rather than the doors being opened at this time. The train then busied up and we reversed out of the trainshed towards the airport. As tired as I was, it actually felt nice just to be able to travel on the silly o-clock airport train once again to somewhere exotic
I now had a bit of waiting around in the shared seating area between the train station and bus station before the testing facility opened at 0700. There were other's doing the same as me, but also a mixture of people using it as a place to sleep the night. My main observation was how cold it was here. The testing facility opened promptly at 0700 and the whole process was very smooth. I then walked into Terminal 1 where I had to check-in in person as BA's online check in is not available for travel to Italy at the moment. The queue was quite long, so I joined it in the anticipation that I would have my test result with me by the time I got to the front of it. Luckily this worked and my test result was negative, so I was good to go.
I was flying with BA today firstly from Manchester to Heathrow and then onwards to Catania, Sicily. I did this just to reduce hassle should anything go wrong at any point, I'm not a massive fan of unnecessary domestic flights but it was just much easier to do it this way and it avoided an airport hotel stay for me. The airport wasn't operating at full capacity and a number of businesses and outlets were closed. Thus, I grabbed a much needed coffee from Starbucks and a breakfast sandwich while I awaited my gate information. The plane was delayed a few minutes, but nothing to worry about. The aircraft was nice and clean, the flight was lovely and smooth- BA even provided a complimentary nutrigrain bar and bottle of water. This was unexpected as I got nothing on this flight on the previous two occasions, and the journey is only 30mins. There were a few spare seats so I moved onto an empty aisle. The passengers on this flight were a real mix, clearly connecting onto many far-flung destinations. On the descent into London we flew right over the centre and got a good view of some of the major sights which was interesting.
Arrival at Heathrow was seamless as I was staying in the same terminal, all I had to do was scan my next boarding pass at an E-gate and walk up a flight of stairs and I emerged into Spoons, so it seemed rude not to indulge. I was in need of sustenance anyway. I sat and read my book, enjoying four pints of Doombar- I don't normally drink much booze before flying but the first pint was cracking quality and it just happened really. I had a really boring meal of sausage, egg, chips and beans but it was food. During this time I read my book which follows a tank unit through Normandy and is by James Holland, it was interesting enough. My next flight was delayed by about 30 mins. Boarding was a bit disorganised. It turns out the British Water Polo team(s) were on my flight heading for the European Championships held in Catania that week. I was sat at the rear of the plane, having booked a window seat in the hope of a good view of Mt Etna later on at Sicily. The crew were fantastic on this flight it must be said. Light snacks were dished out which turned out to be a bottle of water and a pack of salted crisps- better than nothing I suppose and a drink is always appreciated, the online snackbar didn't have anything particularly exciting available so I didn't have anything else. I decided to buy wifi on this plane, which was a nice novelty, but this also coincided with the facebook/whatsapp outage so that did restrict my ability to enjoy it a little. Unfortunately, as soon as we crossed the English channel we encountered turbulence. There followed a period of time where the captain adjusted altitude fairly frequently to try find a decent altitude to fly at. Eventually we seemed to settle on one just above the clouds. However, this didn't last long as we then ended up in the clouds, bouncing around quite severely for the next couple of house. Not the best flight, but this wasn't BA's fault at all. During this time the cabin crew came around and gave everyone two forms to fill out. One was for Italian Customs and the other some sort of disclaimer for BA, which basically seemed to suggest that if you were rejected by Italy due to not having the correct testing/paperwork, BA weren't having anything to do with you. I assisted two pleasant women who were heading to a wedding in Taormina with the filling in of the Italian Covid immigration form and in return they let me borrow their pen. Filling in paperwork on a bouncing plane, is not easy and it took a significant amount of time and effort, I was hoping there wouldn't be any marks deducted for scruffy handwriting. Overall, knowing Italy as I do, I wasn't too concerned about the forms as most Italians are very relaxed about everything. We eventually emerged from the edge of the storm with about 30 mins flight time left and after that it was quite pleasant. I got some good views of Sicily and it's seas, but unfortunately I couldn't make out Mt Etna on this occasion. On landing there was quite a queue due to just two border police on duty and one of them was dealing with EU citizens as priority. Meanwhile, we were being monitored for high temperatures by thermal imaging cameras which an official was watching on an Ipad. I was a bit hot and bothered at this time, but not overly concerned as much Italian bureaucracy is just for show in the South and she didn't speak to anyone at all from our flight in the end. Upon reaching the border police my passport was stamped for the first time in Italy. Exit from the airport was then swift, with nobody bothering to ask for my Italian Covid form at all.
The thunderstorm we flew through/around:
Due the delay of the flight and getting through immigration, I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel on the far side of the town. I wasn't a massive fan of the drivers driving style, but this is how things are in Italy. The city of Catania looked nice and there was plenty of life, with lots of people in the streets and food vendors and stalls at the sides of the road. My hotel was on the seafront, was very nice and check in was simple. I was absolutely exhausted at this point, so although I had originally anticipated exploring Catania on this evening, I simply went straight to bed and enjoyed some cracking sleep.
5/10
I awoke at 0600ish with the plan of hopefully seeing the sunrise while having breakfast on the rooftop restaurant, this plan worked perfectly and it was worth it. The breakfast buffet was excellent and I made the most of it. I admire any country where cake can feature on the breakfast buffet. I like cake.
I checked out and asked the receptionist if she could order a taxi, which then took me to the station, it was only about 2km, but I didn't fancy the walk with a suitcase in the dawning heat. Once I explained to the taxi driver that I was heading to Calabria, the taxi driver was intrigued as to who I was; Calabria is the home of the Ndrangheta- a powerful Italian crime syndicate, with many international connections. When I tell Italians I'm going to Calabria, many seem to be a bit suspicious of me. I find that mildly amusing, of course they are very wrong with that assumption.
Todays objective was to travel from Catania Station to Locri, Calabria. This is one of the worlds more interesting rail journeys, as of course the train goes on the ferry and I've wanted to do this journey for quite some time, so it was nice to actually do it. It's not the first time, I've been on the train ferry as I've previously crossed the straits of Messina multiple times, as a foot passenger, in a car and on the Hydrofoils. However, this would be the first time I would do this journey as a Trenitalia passenger. The total journey time today would be around 5 hours, the first part of my journey being on an IC train in first class and the next two trains being Regionali- the cost for this was around 17 Euros which I thought was a bargain.
Upon being dropped off at Catania, I went to photograph the station. At this point the taxi driver was frantically waving me in the direction of the station entrance, thinking I was getting wildly lost. I can't help but see a resemblance to Huddersfield in the station here. At one end of the platform is an old rack & pinion steam locomotive from a former branchline here, which will have greater relevance to this report later on.
The station cafe was overly busy so although I could have done with provisions, I didn't attempt to. The station shop was sadly closed on a long term basis, which I found a lot at even large stations on this trip, so buy provisions in advance of your travels in Italy currently. I then waited on the platform. At this time the railway police went down the platform checking everyone's passports, although they ignored me during this check. There was a night train in the platform opposite heading for Syracuse with its distinctive, smart dark liveried carriages and a locomotive at each end. I still haven't been on an Italian night train, so this is something I need to do. My IC train then arrived with an E464 locomotive at the front.
I'd booked first class, because it was ridiculously cheap. Standard on Italian trains is perfectly fine for me, but sometimes it's rude not to. Social distancing measures are still in force on Italian trains, including mandatory mask wearing, seats out of use and one way systems. These rules are generally followed. You may also be asked for your Green Pass, which I was on this train by the Capotreni, but this was the only time I was asked for this on a train during my time in Italy.
The train passed along the coast through Taormina and it's a pleasant journey, with excellent scenery, views of Mount Etna and the sea. Quite a few tunnels are encountered however.
Pulling in to Messina station, the 4 carriages that arrived from Palermo are waiting in the platform already with two diesel shunters attached to the rear of them via barrier wagons. This portion is then pulled out of the station and shunted onto the rear of our carriages. Our electric locomotive then detaches and we are shunted towards, and then onto the ferry. The Syracuse portion is then secured on the ship and you can alight. The shunting staff member was happy for me to film the Palermo portion (now split from our train) being shunted onto the other side of the ferry providing I stayed out of the way and he told me the best place to stand. The crew throughout were very relaxed about being filmed and allowed me to stand close to the action as long as I was safe and not in the way of their work. I've attached videos of these movements and others from the train ferry below:
https://youtu.be/bgeHkQ8ybXU
On the train ferry, the air con in the carriages stops so it gets very warm onboard. You are however welcome to remain in your carriage for the crossing and you can leave your luggage there too. I however, went on to the top deck to enjoy the view, the sun and the fresh air. Do pay close attention to which deck you are on in relation to the train- the ferry turns at least once during the journey so it can be disorientating as the ships innards all look the same.
'We Bless You and Your City'
At Villa San Giovanni, the train is then shunted off the ferry this time by a solitary shunter and you pass a fantastic example of what happens when things go wrong during the shunting process.
The type of diesel locomotive used for the shunting at both sides of the Straits of Messina.
I then took a modern regionali train from Villa San Giovanni station to Reggio Di Calabria Centrale, where I changed for the regionali train to Locri. I'm not asked for my ticket on the first service, but am on the second. On neither am I asked for my green pass. You will notice the deterioration in rolling stock quality as I head into Southern Calabria, although the old units are actually okay on the inside but the do lack air con. As I head along the coast, a storm blows in and I can no longer see Sicily as I travel the opposite coast and by the time I arrive in Locri thunder and lightning has started. Not a bad triip though for the price; 1 Electric Loco, 3 Diesel Shunters, a Ferry and 2 units.
I assume that’s a night train from Milan or Turin.
