We arrived in Marsala by train from Palermo. Even though it was not a great distance the journey took 4 hours and involved changing trains in Tripani. When we arrived in Marsala we walked from the train station to the centre of the old town. Even if we had wanted to use a taxi, we would have been out luck, because there were none in sight. I guess it was good exercise for us to walk, but as we were both feeling unwell we didn't particularly enjoy it.
Video of Marsala, Sicily
Staying in Marsala
We rented an apartment with Holiday Residence Marsala (http://www.holidayservicemarsala.it) on Via Bovio, which was right in the centre of town. The apartment was a good size in a newly refurbished building housing two apartments.
Plus Points:
1.Location
2.Kitchen well stocked with pots and pans, plus some store cupboard ingredients
Negative points:
1.No Wifi
2.Very small shower cubicle with a fixed shower head.
3.Cold. The apartment was very cold when we arrived, The fabric of the building was cold, everything was cold to the touch, the walls, floor etc. It may have been so cold from being unused since the Summer season. Laura was so cold she slept in her clothes; jeans, hoodie, socks. The apartment owner did adjust the air-conditioning for us to blow out warm air, which helped. But as there was no heating in the bedroom, it remained very cold for the whole of our stay. The bed linen was so cold, it felt damp. Eating in Marsala
Casa Randall
Our first meal was one cooked by Laura, and it ended up being our only meal. She made a large pot of chicken in a tomato and bean sauce, which we ate over the three days of our stay.
We didn't eat much else, and didn't manage to eat all of the chicken as we were both feeling rundown and had little appetites.
Drinking in Marsala
How ironic, being in Marsala and not at least trying some Marsala wine. The first day in Marsala I did pick up a bottle of Triacca 2005 Inferno, but being 'Tom and Dick' I only managed a glass of it spread over 3 days. I can give no impression of it, apart from the simple fact that it cost 14€ a bottle.
Summary
It was not the best of times. I had a stinking cold, and stomach bug, for the duration of our stay in Marsala, spending most of the time in bed. Not that there would have been much to do anyway, because it was the weekend, and everything was closed during most of our stay.
Laura spent most of her time playing solitaire.
Moving On
Our next stop was Sciacca. I checked the bus timetable online, but to be make certain, we popped into the tourist information centre to find out where the buses departed from and to make sure I had not misread the Lumia website. My Italian being about equal to my Russian. :-)
The lady we spoke to in the tourist information centre spoke perfect English, well almost perfect, because she spoke with an East Coast American accent. ;) She was extremely helpful, checking for the bus timetable, and giving us directions to the bus station (a petrol station).
The bus stop was outside a cafe, across the road from a petrol station. We stopped for a drink and snack while waiting for the bus to Sciacca. It arrived, a little late, we boarded, goodbye Marsala.
Our journey to Palermo started in Salerno. We caught a train to Naples (Napoli) in the morning, wandered round Naples (Napoli) and the cruise liner terminal for a few hours, before heading to the Calata di Porto Massa ferry terminal. The ferry terminal was a very minimal affair. There was only one small cafe with seating for about a dozen people. The only other business in the terminal building was a pharmacy. It was standing room only for most of the 200+ people wanting for their ferry. To add insult to injury our ferry left from about 200 metres from the terminal building and we were told we could board at 6pm, but when we got there, we were told it would be 6.30 or later. This meant waiting in the open air or slogging back to the terminal building with our bags.
We were both exhausted and feeling unwell, all day all we'd wanted to do was get on board the ferry, eat, and go straight to bed. We were finally allowed to board the the ferry at 7pm.
In retrospect we should have stayed at the cruise liner terminal because it was also a shopping centre with a few places to sit and relax, and there was a free shuttle bus between it and Calata di Porto Massa.
Once on our ferry, things initially looked good. We were the first two passengers to board, we went straight to the reception desk to check-in where we were given keys to our cabin. A 4 birth cabin for the two of us which was a good size. As we hadn't eaten much all day we dumped our bags in our cabin and went in search of dinner. Finding both the self-service restaurant and the A La Carte restaurant closed we headed to the bar to kill some time. After a small can of beer, served with a plastic cup, we checked the restaurants again, the self-service was open, but the A La Carte restaurant was closed. From then on things went down hill fast. The food in the self-service restaurant was disgusting. In hindsight going to bed hungry would have been a better decision.
For dinner we had some unidentifiable pieces of meat, boiled carrots, boiled cauliflower, and boiled green beans. At least I'm sure they were green long before they'd been overcooked and lost all of their colour. The vegetables were obviously frozen not fresh, and actually a miracle of science, as the overcooking had managed to leave them both soft and limp, and hard and crunchy.
So, we'd had to wait for over an hour after we'd boarded the ferry for the 'restaurant' to open, and we ended up with stone cold 'food', which cost just under €40. €40! A scandal. If we ever needed to sail with Tirrenia Ferries again, we would definitely make sure to take our own food on board. A further insult to the service, was the fact that when we returned to our cabin, we found that the toilet did not work, and we had to get someone to come and fix it.
Finally, much later than our poor bodies needed, we could go to bed. The cabin was freezing, but we were so knackered we managed to get some sleep.
On a positive note, the ferry did arrive in Palermo on time, where we were very pleased to disembark and enjoy the early morning sun as we ambled to our hotel.
We stayed at the Hotel Orientale for 5 nights. It is an interesting hotel housed in part of an old palazzo. You enter the hotel through a nondescript wooden dor on Via Maquedes, into a large courtyard. The courtyard was littered with cars in various states of disrepair. The you walk up the once grand staircase to the hotel reception.
Our room was medium sized, with a small desk and chair, and a wardrobe. The windows did not fit very well, so we could hear the market outside at street level, but at night the street was deserted, so it was very quiet.
Plus points:
Bedroom and bathroom very clean.
Comfortable bed.
Working air-conditioning.
Endless hot water.
Location. Close to the train station, and in a vibrant area.
Negative Points:
No WiFi in the room.
No Fridge.
No T.V.
Breakfast. The self-service buffet, consisted of cheap processed packet food. There were croissants, sponge cakes, chocolate cake, and white bread for toasting. Coffee was available from a vending style machine, it was bad. Jugs of a cordial type drink were also available, but they were so sweet we couldn't drink them.
WiFi was available in the reception of the hotel. We sat there a couple of times but as the reception also doubled as the TV lounge of the receptionist it wasn't comfortable to stay for long, especially when she'd start plumping the cushions despite the fact that we were lounging on them.
Having said all that, we really enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Orientale in Palermo, Sicily.
Place in the market ~ It had no name that we could see, and was located in one of the narrow streets south of Via Roma. I had Spaghetti Ricci, which was some kind of fish sauce, Laura had papperdelle with mushrooms. Good wholesome food, but I think we may have been overcharged because the bill came to 31€, and apart from the two dishes all we had were two beers and some tiny scraps of bread. We had no way of knowing how much our bill should have been because there was no menu, just the name of the dishes written on a white board. It wasn't a swanky restaurant, just a basic backstreet gaff, so definitely somewhere that should have been reasonably priced.
I guess that should teach us to ask the prices before we eat. ;) It didn't though, because the following day, we once again ate lunch without knowing the prices, but at least the food was half the price of this place. It was crap, but half the price.
Sant'Anna Focacceria ~
We'd seen a large group of people eagerly stuffing their faces at this place, they really looked as though they were enjoying the food, so we thought we'd try it.
I wish we hadn't bothered.
We sat outside in the sun, which was the only good thing about our lunch. I ordered pasta Al Forno, which came in a tinfoil container, was mushy, lacked flavour, and was stone cold. Laura chose penne pasta with aubergines, which was was served on a plate, but was also poorly cooked, lacking in flavour, and completely cold.
So, now we knew why the group of diners we'd seen were eating so eagerly, the food was cold, and nasty, but they were hungry and just wanted to get it over with.
We only ate our food because we were hungry and too tired to go looking for somewhere better.
Drinking in Palermo, Sicily
Corvo Rosso Vendemmia 2010 ~ http://www.duca.it/
My first bootle of wine in Sicily and for the price paid, not a bad one.
L'Antica Taverna Conti ~ We stubbled upon this little bar in the market North of Via Maquedes. Super cheap beer. A mere 1.50€ for a 66cl bottle of Forst beer. Next to the bar was a place selling food, so we both had panino con panelle, a soft sesame seed roll filled with slices of fried chickpea pasta, with a generous squirt of fresh lemon and black pepper. It was mighty tasty, and the cheap beer and great people-watching opportunities saw us returning there every day of our stay in Palermo. While we were busy drinking beer, other customers at the neighbouring tables were busy skinning-up. We got high on the fumes. There was no age discrimination going on with the wacky-backy customers, they ranged from teenagers to pensioners.
Summary ~
Palermo is a funny old town. It is difficult to get an angle on the place. We stayed in the older part of town, and every morning I expected to be awoken by the mezzanine from the local mosque, but there was no mosque, only countless catholic churches. The town felt more like being in North Africa than Southern Europe. It was a strange feeling, but one that was quite endearing. Every street off of the main roads also seemed to house street markets, selling all manner of goods, from fresh fish and vegetables to household cleaning products and clothes. There seemed to be no real order to the markets. No central area for any one kind of product, but rather little clusters.
Video of Palermo, Sicily
Moving on ~
For some unknown reason, there did not seem to be any direct trains from Palermo to any point on the island. Quirky to say the least. Out next stop was going to be Marsala on the East of Sicily. Not a long distance, but still requiring a change of train.
Richard: The American elections are over and we have Michelle Obama being the Worlds best dressed woman for another 4 years. Walmart shoppers can rejoice in having their style icon in public office for 4 more fashion filled years.
Laura: After many, many, many hours sat outside our favourite bar in the market by our hotel, I observed that I've never seen so many people with curly hair, or so many people with red hair. Some had hair that was both curly and red.
Drinking in Marsala
