Haven’t you always heard of “the straits of Messina”?
Today I took a train from Taormina, about halfway down the east coast of Sicily, up to the northeastern point of the large island, at Messina. I wondered how this would work, since my train ticket included going up the northwest-facing shoreline of Italy. There was about an hour and a half of finagling, I’ve been told longer than usual, but they split the eight-car train into two parts, and then individually pushed the two halves onto a large ferry. We eventually got back underway across the waters of the Straits of Messina. I was riding ON a train ON a boat! How cool is that!?
While underway, I went up onto the passenger deck to enjoy the view and the breeze.
At the snack bar, I bought “arancini”, a deep fried rice ball filled with Ragu sauce and cheese – a Sicillian typical food – plus some sparkling water with which to wash it down. The sun was shining, the water was calm.
Now I’ll have to Google “The Straits” to see what it says.