East Coast Sicily Days 6&7 - Capo d'Orlando

We get off to an early start to get the bus up to the station to get the train to go to Capo d'Orlando, a place whose name inspires me for some reason and which is one of the few main resorts in Sicily which we haven't yet visited. It is to be a day full of unexpected happenings. We get on the bus but it is still a little early for the timetabled departure. When I try to buy a ticket the driver waves me on in a way which seems to indicate 'later'. It seems a little odd but also when we went to Messina the ticket seller got on later . We are therefore a little surprised when the bus departs earlier than it should, makes off at speed without any stops and zooms us straight up to the station. The driver indicates to get off and my attempts to pay are ignored. As soon as we are off the driver sets off again at breakneck speed,......

We are early for the train which is on time but by the time we arrive in Capo d'Orlando we are already a little hungry. It seems that the town has nothing as inspiring as the impression I got from its name but I am often totally wrong on the subject (Borghetto Santo spirito is another example on the Italian Riviera - a long line of unpleasant skyscrapers squashed on the beach in front of the railway line). It's quite modern but not in a particularly interesting way. We stock up on arancini and find and acceptable place on the rather uncomfortable shingle beach for a picnic.

After, we go back towards Santuario Maria Santissima up a lot of steps but we always enjoy going uphill. There's a nice way of the other side of the headland and back across Capo d'Orlando itself. 

Back down we head around the headland towards San Gregorio beach. Just as we cross the road a local walker, rather plump, sets out in front of us at a fast pace. We smirk, rather, because we consider ourselves walkers and here it's on the flat, not even uphill, and we imagine we'll soon overtake him. Well, appearances are deceptive because we spend the next hour just trying to keep up with him at a fast pace even for us! We eventually give up when we reach the modern port area and slow down to have a look. On the way, there are one or two shingle beaches, more natural than the other side but nothing special. 

It's about 4 kilometres at a fast pace and we slow down a little on the way back. In Capo d'Orlando we stop at a cafè on the way to the station for a granita and coffee for me and an ice-cream for Andrea for a change. Very good both. Back at the station we find our train has been delayed by over half an hour, the delay becomes 40 minutes by the time the train actually arrives and inevitably by the time we arrive in Milazzo station there's no bus to get back to Milazzo, just a few hopeful taxi drivers. We decide to walk, I'm not sure why, partly to see if it's doable partly because 10 euros for a taxi to cover four miles seems a waste. The second part of the walk is on the main road and there isn't much of a pavement so it isn't very pleasant, the third and last part near the port isn't too bad.

Nevertheless by the time we get back to the apartment we are really rather tired.

The next day is Sunday and in the morning it rains so we have a long rest and do a little packing for the transfer the next day. In the afternoon another walk along the coast road again, a last look at the centre and the view of the castle and a last taste at our favourite granita place. We liked Milazzo.