Milan to Sicily by Intercity Notte sleeper train and UNIQUE train ferry crossing (DELUXE cabin)

so here we go uh time to buckle up for the next 21 hours we're going to be leaving milan central station in the next 10 or 15 minutes bound for palermo in sicily 21 hours on board this train including the ferry crossing over to messina it's going to be a great and unique trip [Music] milan is one of europe's most beautiful cities full of delightful churches stunning architecture and beautiful gallerias it is a city with enduring charm but if you're a transport geek like me you're probably also attracted to the vintage trams still in regular service here on the transit network remarkably these trams have been in service in milan since 1929. they in fact predate milano central station which opened in 1931. it is europe's largest station by physical size and is an imposing grand structure it was originally going to be modeled on washington union station in the usa but the rise of mussolini to become the italian prime minister meant a lot of tinkering with the design to incorporate a lot of references to ancient rome the result is an impressive grand station with if we put it diplomatically more than a hint of italy's past burnt into the design anyway the ticket machines and ticket office are downstairs along with some shops and other station facilities leaving a grand hall the exits from which onto the platforms are controlled by a manned gate line [Music] garibaldi station to the north handles most of milan's local commuter traffic while centrale handles most of the city's longer distance services expect to find plenty of intercity frechia bianca and top-ranked fletchia rossa red arrow trains some of which are prettier than others the station also handles some regional traffic including some double decker trains oh and if you ever come here take a look at the gorgeous but now disused interlocking signal cabins out in the yard palermo is the furthest you can go by direct train from milano centrale as the crow flies it's about 850 kilometers but by rail it's a considerable 1530 kilometers or about 950 miles there are two main types of accommodation comfort is the shared four bed couchettes and deluxe cabins are larger sleepers half of our train will go all the way to palermo and half will detach at messina on sicily and head the short distance south to syracusa okay so here we go the train is ready for boarding the intercity notte down to palermo gotta be careful as to which carriage i get on i'm in carriage eight which is in the palermo half of the train but get on at the wrong section i'll end up in syracuse today i'm travelling deluxe in a one berth cabin which cost me 89 euro one way a shared berth in the couchettes can cost a quarter of that price but when i traveled and as is still policy at the release of this video you must book all four spaces to have solo use of the kuchet room because of covert protocols around sharing with people you don't know solo use of the couchette was 79 euro on this trip so the deluxe with its inbuilt wash basin and extra storage was a reasonable investment of the extra 10 euro thank you gracie oh boy i'm so glad to have a private cabin oh boy come on let's close oh it is 30 degrees it's 30 degrees in milan oh my god am i hot i've been wearing the mask for about 12 hours oh we have an opening window i'm very excited and some super air conditioning that is so cool and so we're off this train takes 21 hours to cover the 950 miles meaning our average speed is just 45 miles per hour but that's understandable in the evening we make multiple stops until we reach livorno just past midnight then a long period of non-stop service overnight until we reach salerno just before 6 a.m and from there it's all local stops down the terrain coast to via san giovanni where we pick up the ferry a time-consuming but fun and unique [Music] experience [Music] okay so my top piece of advice for traveling on this train is to remember it doesn't have a restaurant car or buffet car or any dining facilities at all so you need to sort out dinner for yourself now some people might want to eat in milan before they leave this training at ten percent in the evening pretty good time six or seven pm to go and get something to eat or if you're like me and you like to break up the time on board you might want to bring a picnic of sorts on board um this will be my dinner tonight and i've got some bananas to provide me with some nutrition through tomorrow i'm hoping i'm hoping i'm gonna be able to get some food and or drink on board the ferry tomorrow morning about brunch time um but yeah i've got my dinner here tonight uh one of the reasons i do that is just to break up the time on board 21 hours is a long time and i don't plan on sleeping for a few hours after leaving milan it's worth saying that the train crew do provide free water [Music] there's also a hygiene kit in your room which contains a shaving kit soap sanitizer a wet towel tissues some sort of glove i'm not sure what that's for and toothbrush and toothpaste i totally recommend taking this journey in the summer the evening stay light until late and you might luck out with some fantastic weather so a room tour what's in the deluxe cabin well the door has a lock but from the inside only and i don't recommend leaving valuables in your room above the door there are some controls for the temperature it was very hot when i traveled and you'll need the air con up high to tolerate the italian summers the beds can convert into seats and the cushions are stored up here it's a useful place to store bigger bags too up to three people can use this cabin the top bunk pops down from here and the middle bank from here wondering how you get up there there is of course a ladder which is just here however there is only one charge socket near the bed and that is hidden away right down here the floor area is big enough to take smaller bags and there's also a waste bin and large cupboard behind which is the wash basin and storage for your toiletries note that the water is controlled not by taps but by foot pedals i noticed this cabin has an interconnecting door with the next one but i have no idea if this option is used anymore some hangers are provided for the next day's clothes and it's worth pointing out that each bunk space has its own reading light intercom and main room light controls finally if you're the sort to use an electric shaver there's a socket for that too here's what a deluxe cabin looks like with two bunks deployed you can see it would be a bit cramped with three people in here while the couchettes are in the comfort cars and they fold down in the same way the bunks do with the lower ones converting from seats only basic sheets and bedding are provided there is no mattress in a cachet none of the deluxe cabins on this train have an ensuite and there's a toilet at the end of each carriage these were all perfectly acceptable and there was never a way to use one so genoa piazza principe station is reached just before 10 pm so [Music] okay so that's it uh it's just gone 11 p.m hoping to get about seven hours sleep and wake up just after salerno as we go towards the south of italy uh at about 6 a.m now italian trains especially when they get into the south are not known for being particularly reliable and the last time i took this train which was a couple of years ago actually failed uh to even make it as far as a ferry so late was the train i had to abandon my trip because it fell a whole lot of other connections that i had later on that day but anyway hopefully tomorrow things are going to plan so yeah good night and let's hope for a fairly on time arrival tomorrow good morning we just left salerno before a light breakfast is served a chance to stretch my legs this is my deluxe sleeper car we've talked about cashettes before and i've had a few people suggest the solo occupancy of a couchette where you would buy all four berths is preferable to the deluxe i don't quite agree but you can make your own mind up and to be fair the comfort couchette cars like this one here have been more recently renovated and the air con was a little stronger in here too the reward for being early to bed is being early to rise and the stretch from salerno all the way down to villa san giovanni is in beautiful morning sunshine and well worth being awake for [Music] so here we are a rather healthy 75 minutes late heading down the coast towards villa san giovanni where we will be shunted onto the ferry for the crossing to messina and then rejoin the railway to head to palermo on the north side of sicily i've got a lovely espresso coffee which i'm going to knock back in just a second i had a lovely seven hour sleep actually uh i fell asleep not long after we left genoa i'm actually a little lying after i noticed we were nowhere near salerno at 6am so not bad at all pop this back have my little breakfast and uh chill out and enjoy the scenery this is a fantastic railway trip massively underrated i think in the railway community a small breakfast is provided by the sleeper host at a time you'll agree with them the night before it isn't the most substantial breakfast but it'll do [Music] the run down the terrain coast is punctuated by about a dozen short stops of course not everyone is going to sicily and the timings make this train useful for someone in the north traveling to the southern mainland the relaxed pace of this trip is perfect for admiring the beautiful coastline i don't usually see this trip included in lists of scenic rail journeys but this part of the world is very underrated the simple pleasure of just watching the world pass your window is always just that bit more pleasurable when the world looks like this there are numerous trains that use the train ferry to sicily this isn't the only one there are sleeper trains from rome too and various intercity day trains that also cross the straits of messina on the ferry will take on this journey however if you're after a sleeper the journey from milan to palermo is very favorably timed to see the scenery the roam sleepers trains 1955 and 1959 both arrive for the ferry quite early in the morning so you'll miss these views as well as the beautiful coastline there are some industrial relics to see too look out for the abandoned sugar factory at lemezia terme and at joya tauro the railway viaduct for the narrow gauge railway to synopoly incredibly this viaduct was used as recently as 2011. at palmy a bit of drama we're held here for half an hour due to an unspecified incident which turned out to be this maintenance vehicle having an unauthorized passenger it's not clear why this man was hitching a ride but it's worth noting that the south of italy has a lot of unauthorized migration from refugees across from north africa but anyway it's not clear to me what was going on here i don't speak italian and the situation might have been very different the approach to via san giovanni allows us to glimpse sicily for the first time and we pull in alongside the intercity 728 that's a train which has just come off the ferry having left palermo at 7am and which will arrive into rome at half past 6. okay so here we are via san giovanni not quite sure if we um all have to get off the train on this one or whether we can stay on but i'm about to find out i think so everyone's getting off let's check okay so it looks like we're staying on the doors have closed and most of the passengers still on board i think we're going to draw forward so we can reverse back onto the ferry this is a procedure on passenger trains which is now unique in europe so we're seeing something that doesn't happen very often [Music] the shunting operation takes about 20 minutes at each end of the ferry journey and is quite laborious a top tip after you leave via san giovanni find a doorway which is locked and where the floor has been removed this is where the train will split on the ferry and you'll get a front row view of being pushed back onto the ferry [Music] our train splits into three sections to fit onto the ferry and is quite something to witness we have to shunt onto the ferry stop split carriages back off stop and then go forwards back on to another track on the ferry stop split carriages back off again stop and finally back on again it is obvious why passenger train ferries are so rare and it's not entirely clear to me why doing all of this is a good idea and why trains have to cross at all i used to work in a control room on the british railways and i am stumped i'm sure someone in the comments will be able to explain why it's not more sensible to just terminate a trainer via sound giovanni have the passengers walk onto the ferry and then just take a separate train to palermo let me know if you know the answer [Music] [Music] [Music] so well here we are going to be a little bit careful walking sideways to train but that is how you get a train on a boat next stop messina so the crossing is about 20-25 minutes across two massina plenty of time to stretch your legs get up on deck get some fresh air um i'm not sure about the policy on masks on board the ferry but it looks like everyone's wearing one so when in rome or rather went in sicily if your ferry crossing is during the day you are welcome to come up on deck but if you take a train which crosses at night you likely won't be able to leave the train carriages well here we are it's empty now just like we found somewhere to get a coffee our section of the train was the last on i don't know why i'm the only person here it seems pretty obvious get something to drink while you're here you should definitely try arancini for lunch on the ferry by the way [Music] so this is it this is the ferry from uh villa san giovanni to messina and if you look down here you can see that we are making a big turn we are pivoting in the middle of the straits of messina so we're kind of reversing this is a ferry which can go forwards or backwards no problem i'm heading over towards messina which is over there i assume the reason for the big pivot is so that the train's carriages will get off in the right order when they come to re-shunt us and put us back together as two separate trains so anyway uh this is the ferry and this is the first time i've ever been on a train ferry and it is the only one in regular passenger service in europe so this is absolutely fantastic and if you do do this journey i do recommend doing it in the summer it is a fantastic day [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] after more shunting in and out of messina centrali during which we get a good look at the old round house we're off to palermo which will take around another three hours [Music] [Music] a little time was shaved off the journey in 2001 when the galleria pelotarana was opened this double track tunnel to villafranca terena replaced and made redundant the old route through the mountains which was slow steep and involved single track sections the abandoned route can still be clearly seen on google earth cutting through villages and mountains major infrastructure is still standing and the site of two abandoned stations can also be seen the tunnel is sensible and efficient but it isn't as fun as the old route through the mountains i think [Music] okay so we're going to be in this tunnel for a while there's nothing to see out the window so let me show you a few of the things that i've brought along with me to make this journey a little bit better a little bit safer first things first you've already seen the master that i'm wearing on day to day basis here but actually in lombardy where milan is mask use is a condition of being outdoors so if this one breaks then i need to have some backups like these it is the law in lombardy where milan is located to wear a mask all times even in outdoor public spaces so a spare mask is definitely something to bring there's no shower on board the train so bring some wet wipes and soap as well and some toiletries you'll be needing um toothbrush toothpaste and hand sanitizer gel which is in here hand wash turns out they've got some on the train that's absolutely fine but i prefer to bring my own and finally because there is no entertainment on board and no dining car to meet everybody else bring a book and perhaps some tolerance of your own company [Music] [Music] the line hugs the north coast of sicily all the way to palermo as it has done since the late 19th century again there are lots of smaller stops for us to make but not even waiting for a late train to clear a single line section at santagata de militeo can delay the inevitable storm which to be fair is the payment for having a beautiful afternoon in much of europe this is the home stretch [Music] welcome to palermo sicily now i'm on a trip that's taking about three or four days and there's only one hour in that trip that it was scheduled to rain and of course it's when i arrive here in paloma never mind off to the hotel now thanks for watching i really hope you enjoyed the video don't forget to subscribe for more videos just like this but until next time i'll see you around [Music] you

Channel: Wingin’ It! Paul Lucas

Views: 551,115

Rating: 4.9155703 out of 5

Keywords: milan palermo train, sleeper train, milan to palermo sleeper, intercity notte, icn 1963, paul lucas, wingin it, milano palermo treno notte, villa san giovanni, messina, ferry, trenitalia, train on ferry, train ferry, train trip, train experience, sleeper train cabin, deluxe sleeper train, couchette, interrail

Id: E2h2ZFmmDVE

Length: 32min 22sec (1942 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 13 2020