It is a strange trip indeed from Sorrento to Sicily. We began by traveling north on the Circumvesuviana line to Naples. Then we boarded the southbound train, first-class was all they had available, to Reggio Calabria on Italy's tippy-toe where, like kids taking apart the Lionel train after Christmas, they disconnected all the cars and, one-by-one, shuttled them onto a ferry equipped with rails. The process was reversed once we reached Messina, a time consuming job that probably caused us to eventually miss our connecting ferry to Malta.
It was during the crossing that I met Joe, who was taking photos. He was as astonished as I at the train-on-a-ferry concept. He and his wife, Marianne, recently quit their jobs and sold their home in Potomac, MD to travel, but only for ten months. Judging by the size of their luggage, they didn't exactly "leave it all behind." It's certainly a ballsy move in this economy and our hats are off to them.
As previously noted, we missed our connection to Malta and spent the night in Catania at the foot of the steaming Mt. Etna, which buried the town in lava in the 17th Century. We will push on by bus to Pozzallo and try to catch tonight's boat to Malta.
