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| Duomo in Cefalu |
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| Seashore-Cefalu |
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| La Rocca-Cefalu |
April 4, 2014
Wrong Timing
We returned to Pizza e Cucina for dinner last night. Of course, they remembered us. The grandfather of the owner was there. He was told about the singing the night before. He was on his way home to bed, but he wanted to meet us for lunch the next day. We told him we'd be leaving for Cefalu & he said they had a restaurant there too. As a token of friendship, he gave us three slim slices of pizza crust with something special on it. We ate the bite-sized morsel as he tried to explain what it was. No one there spoke any amount of English so he drew a circle on a piece of paper with what seemed to be hairs around it. Then he wrote "300." We guessed fish, but he said "fruit de mare." Uh oh! We then guessed calamari, octopus, & on & on until we got to sea urchin. Bingo!
We left the hotel this morning & made it out of Palermo the hard way (is there any other?), eventually found the autostrade, & were on our way to Cefalu. The guidebooks call it a resort town. It was settled in the 9th century BC; it is now well restored & lined with boutiques, restaurants, & gift shops. We followed the seashore to our left & mountains on our right. Industrial zones gave way to prettier hillside villages of typical tan stucco houses & with red tile roofs. Eventually, Le Rocca, a mountain, appeared looming over Cefalu on one side as the fine grain sandy beach embraced it on the other. Parking was dicey but we managed to find a free lot near the old city. The Basilica closed at noon so we race-walked into the square. As we entered, David had a sinking feeling he forgot to lock the car. We arranged to meet near a grouping of cafes & he took off. I won't even mention the up & down hills.
The 12th century Duomo (basilica) was disappointing. It was billed as reminiscent of Monreale but the only resemblance was the altar area. That part was embellished with gold mosaics & definitely focused the eye from the cold stone of the rest of the church.
Judi & I walked the streets a bit then met up with David & ate lunch at a delightful beachside cafe. Time was fleeing & we had to leave. We had to be at the ferry in Messina by 4pm to return the car & get to the boat.
We returned to Pizza e Cucina for dinner last night. Of course, they remembered us. The grandfather of the owner was there. He was told about the singing the night before. He was on his way home to bed, but he wanted to meet us for lunch the next day. We told him we'd be leaving for Cefalu & he said they had a restaurant there too. As a token of friendship, he gave us three slim slices of pizza crust with something special on it. We ate the bite-sized morsel as he tried to explain what it was. No one there spoke any amount of English so he drew a circle on a piece of paper with what seemed to be hairs around it. Then he wrote "300." We guessed fish, but he said "fruit de mare." Uh oh! We then guessed calamari, octopus, & on & on until we got to sea urchin. Bingo!
We left the hotel this morning & made it out of Palermo the hard way (is there any other?), eventually found the autostrade, & were on our way to Cefalu. The guidebooks call it a resort town. It was settled in the 9th century BC; it is now well restored & lined with boutiques, restaurants, & gift shops. We followed the seashore to our left & mountains on our right. Industrial zones gave way to prettier hillside villages of typical tan stucco houses & with red tile roofs. Eventually, Le Rocca, a mountain, appeared looming over Cefalu on one side as the fine grain sandy beach embraced it on the other. Parking was dicey but we managed to find a free lot near the old city. The Basilica closed at noon so we race-walked into the square. As we entered, David had a sinking feeling he forgot to lock the car. We arranged to meet near a grouping of cafes & he took off. I won't even mention the up & down hills.
The 12th century Duomo (basilica) was disappointing. It was billed as reminiscent of Monreale but the only resemblance was the altar area. That part was embellished with gold mosaics & definitely focused the eye from the cold stone of the rest of the church.
Judi & I walked the streets a bit then met up with David & ate lunch at a delightful beachside cafe. Time was fleeing & we had to leave. We had to be at the ferry in Messina by 4pm to return the car & get to the boat.
Wrong Placing
We had autostrade all the way & it would have been scenic except for the tunnels. I don't know what the route was before this highway was built, but it must have been hell. I have never driven through so many tunnels on one road. Can't imagine what it would have been like if we had to go around each mountain. Our Lady had conniptions & kept losing the signal.
The GPS found us in time to get to the Hertz car rental place & gas station for a final fill up. We had a surprise when we turned the car in. The odometer read that we'd put 33,000 kilometers on the car while we had it. That would have been some trick. We had unlimited usage so it must have been a mistake made when we picked the car up at the airport in Catania. No worries. David is majorly happy to be rid of that car. We gave him a huge “atta boy.”
Our itinerary said the ferry was a two-minute walk from the car drop-off. The Hertz guy said it was more like a kilometer. He then asked us which ferry we were taking. We didn't have the name but knew where we were going, Villa San Giovanni (Reggio Calabria). We called Viviana, our Sicilian contact, who said there was only one ferry. When I mentioned being met in Calabria she said she wasn't responsible for any arrangements there & to call the agent in Reggio.
We had to take a taxi to the ferry & the driver also wanted to know which ferry we were taking. We told him where we were headed & he dropped us off at a ticket office. We bought tickets & got in line with a bunch of Italians who confirmed this was the correct ferry & that it also carried cars, trucks, & trains. Across the dock we saw a small, passenger only ferry loading, but we were sure we were in the right line. We called the agency in Reggio Calabria to tell them when we'd arrive & we waited some more. An hour later there was still no ferry for us. The Italians started to bail & we followed. Our money was returned for the tickets & we heard that our ferry wasn't coming anytime soon. We sprinted over to the other side of the dock following the crowd & got onto a Bluferry boat.
We called our contact in Reggio to learn he was waiting at another dock but he'd meet us where we were headed. It was only a twenty-minute boat ride, but getting off was a mess. We had to haul our luggage up stairs to get off the boat, up an escalator only to find out we were on the wrong side of railroad tracks, down steps, up another escalator, & there was a sight for sore eyes: Jon Luca. He will be our keeper for the two days we'll be here.
The wrong ferry took us to San Giovanni, about twenty kilometers off the mark. If we'd been on the right boat, the Ustica Line, we'd have landed a few steps from our Hotel Continental. We can look out the window of our room & see the port. Jon Luca was most gracious about his diversion. We were most annoyed about the insufficient information on our itinerary & Viviana's ignorance about the name of the ferry line. Jon Luca assured us it would go much more smoothly for our return to Sicily. I have confidence in him.
We walked to Le Palme for dinner & enjoyed pizza with dried salt beef, eggplant fritters, & homemade gnocchi. Tomorrow we meet Jon Luca & take off for Bova Marina, an archaeological dig.
Toby
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