Naples to Messina 1 November

We spent the morning having coffee in Ischia.

At 3 pm we boarded the ferry to Naples.

At least 10,000 steps including 100 stairs later we were on the train to Garibaldi Station. Now it is dark. The bus station is behind the train station - lots of people around as it's Friday night. Good thing as the walk there is through a dark alley and parking lot. The bus fare to Messina is 45 E each. Ouch. We could have taken a train or flown. Plus this bus leaves at 930 and gets in at 430 am. Not my favourite time of day to set foot in Sicily.
It's a double decker bus and we are guided to the top level front seat. Would have been wonderful in daylight. The road passes through numerous bright tunnels which made sleeping a challenge and Jeff soon moved back a seat so now we both had more room. The middle aged Italian man across the aisle. spoke to me occasionally, kindly informing me of ?
As it turned out our bus was inspected for drugs (the Italian guy said a bunch of stuff I didn't understand, and 'drugs') right after it came off the ferry. (The bus goes on a ferry to get to Sicily. Everybody just stays on the bus during the crossing). Guys in uniforms with side arms and dogs came onboard twice and hauled one male passenger off and after a bit let him back on. A bit of excitement and I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture!! (The security guards at the Naples train station had side arms also).

So the impromptu inspection was a blessing because it tacks an extra 20 minutes onto our trip. Hallelujah, there's actually a ticket office at the Messina station with seating for passengers and the door is open.

A young guy from Irañ was waiting for a bus to Rome so he and Jeff chatted.
We are exhausted! A coffee shop next door opened at 6 am and we had two sweet buns and two coffee for 5 E.

We can't check in til noon! A lot of time to fritter away.

Now we go for a walk and go into MacDonalds. Bathroom, wifi and really good cappuccino:

Clean.
We move on to a nice square by the tram and workers are banging away putting up stalls - we assume getting ready for the Christmas market. People are bustling off to work. We find a bench in the shade. Of course we have our luggage and have been up for over 24 hours, a man asks in Italian if we are Ukrainian. Well I didn't understand the question but Jeff did. Canada he said. Gee here was another opportunity to pretend we were American. We could pull that off.
We while away some time and then find a patio to have a drink, maybe a pizza but the kitchen doesn't open until noon. We ran into coperto again - cover charge. For two pop the bill was 4 euro or 6 C - they added in an 8 E coperto. We were there 30 minutes tops - got nothing extra, no water, no bread. Jeff was flabbergasted and asked a few questions, and they reduced the cover charge to 4 E, this is kind of a rip off and from now on we will ask beforehand. We have been to nicer patios without the cover charge. Tricky.
Not in bakeries or where you go to the counter to order. For sure if there's a tablecloth and probably if there's a waiter in black pants and white shirt.
We took a tram part way to our hotel which is in an apartment building. The landlord does not speak English. Clean enough with a decent bathroom (private) and a communal kitchen where we can cook.