We decided to do something different for our holiday this year and so I set about organising a trip down to Siracusa in Sicily by train. We planned a few stops along the way to break up the journey and then booked a hotel with a pool in Siracusa for a few days of chillaxing before finally flying back home to the UK. It wasn't going to be a wildlife holiday but I hoped to see something of interest along the way and I wasn't too disappointed
We started our trip on Saturday 20th September, catching a train to London for just an overnight stay. The usual Red Kites were seen from the train along the way while in London the usual Ring-necked Parakeets were heard but I never actually saw any. We didn't really have a lot of time in London to do anything much but we did get to see ABBA Voyage which was brilliant if a little surreal.
We caught the Eurostar to Paris the following day for a 2 night stay, I've never visited Paris before and I have to say I've never been particularly interested in doing so but Paris was OK, I much prefer London though. The highlight of our visit was viewing the Egyptian Collection at The Louvre and we also got a peek at the Mona Lisa and Venus Di Milo despite the massive crowds. The Palentology Museum was also very interesting and less crowded and a odd sight was a Bintorung (or Bearcat) which we viewed through the hedgerow of The Menagerie in the Jardin des Plantes, a strange looking beast that I've never heard of before.
Nothing much was seen on the wildlife front with just Moorhen, Mallard, Starling, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Ring-necked Parakeet and Feral Pigeon making it into the note book along with a lone Red Admiral.
Onwards again on Tuesday 23rd September to Zurich in Switzerland, a new country for us and another 2 night stay. Unfortunately the weather turned and it was cool and wet and the stunning lake and mountain views were all obscured by mist and low cloud. I had hoped to catch up with some wildlife during our time here but the rain thwarted my plans somewhat although I did manage some interesting sightings.
We caught the Dolderbahn cog railway up the Adlisberg, the plan had been to wander around the woodland there but we ended up sheltering in The Dolder Grand Hotel instead and spending around £63 on 3 beers, 2 cakes, olives and crisps - we knew Switzerland was going to be expensive but it was still a bit of a shock! However I did see a nice male Black Redstart in the hotel grounds along with Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit and a very black Red Squirrel.
We had a short walk along the path by the Zurichsee and Coot, Cormorant, Mute Swan and Great Crested Grebe were all seen along with Black-headed Gulls and Mallards and a few Yellow-legged Gulls. The only other sightings of note during our time in Zurich were single flyovers of Collared Dove, Alpine Swift and Red Kite.
Thursday 25th September saw us embarking on the longest leg of our trip starting with a train journey from Zurich to Milan. The train line between the 2 cities had been damaged by flooding a few days before and all the trains had been cancelled but fortunately they were restarted on the day of our travel. The weather had improved a little too and it was no longer raining with the Alpine scenery looking stunning from the train windows despite the grey skies although we spent a lot of time whizzing through long tunnels including the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the longest rail tunnel in the world at 57kms.
We arrived in Milan on time and had a 1 hour and 20 minute stopover before our connecting train to Rome which gave us enough time to admire the Neo-fascist architecture of Milano Centrale Station and the Modernism architecture of the Pirelli Tower just outside. It also allowed me the opportunity to see House Sparrows of the Italian race flitting about on the grassy areas outside the station entrance along with numerous Hooded Crows flying about overhead.
We left Milan with a slight delay and as we thundered across Italy towards Rome on the Frecciarossa train I saw flocks of Cattle Egrets in the fields and Kestrels hovering overhead. We arrived into Rome 50 minutes late but we had a generous 3 hour stop over before our connecting sleeper train to Siracusa so it wasn't a problem.
Eventually at around 11pm we were ensconced in our 2 berth sleeper cabin and heading south towards Sicily but sleeper cabin was as usual a bit of a misnomer as we hardly slept at all! The train thundered and bounced and twisted and turned across the train tracks as though we were involved in some kind of boy racing contest, I must have slept at times as I remember dreaming but I frequently woke up to find myself braced against the cabin walls as we hurtled around another bend in the track. Eventually we arrived at Villa San Giovanni on the Straits of Messina at around 8am and we waited bleary eyed to embark onto a ferry across to Sicily, train and all.
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