Day 21 22-09-2013 Sun Palermo

Today’s main destination was Cefalu - ~50 Km east of Palermo. As we approached Cefalu it began to rain, but cleared as we arrived. Cefalu’s main geographical feature is La Rocca – a 300 m rock at the edge of town. It was used by inhabitants in the middle ages to avoid the ravages of Arabs and other invaders. Nominally a 30 min ascent, it took this lot of seniors almost an hour. At the top, in the ruins of the fortress, one had splendid views in all directions. On the up and down walk it was interesting to observe people from all over.

Entering Temple of Diana

Cefalu

Fortress on La Rocca

After lunch in town, we looked in the cathedral. Only the alter end still looked good. It seems that the other end suffered from war damage. As in other churches we have seen this year and last year, no mention of which side was responsible. Perhaps not politically correct to do so, whichever side, as it might offend benefactors.

Somewhat exhausted by our climb, we were glad to be back in the car. We wanted to explore the Madonie area, mostly a national park. We had vision of walking through alpine meadows, but the reality was much starker – high and rugged mountains. Very scenic though – a delightful area to drive through, especially as it was at a leisurely pace due to the winding road with many turns.

We stopped in Castelbuono, a town stuck on the side of a mountain dating from the middle ages. It was very pleasant to walk around it as a lot of the population was out on the streets talking to each other. In small places like this it I reassuring that you can still get a caffe for €0.80. 

We followed the road to Isnello, situated on a saddle between mountains. We didn’t go into the village but stop on the road above to take a few shots. While there we saw flashes of lightning and heard thunder. Shortly after leaving there, it started to rain in earnest, bucketing down to the accompaniment of fierce lightning, thunder and hail. We were worried about damage to the car, but the hailstones were fortunately not large enough.

We were soon enough out of the storm and descending again to the coast at a modest pace. The scenery in Madonie is so good, it’s a shame we did not plan for a sojourn here. The road to the coast was lined all the way in gum trees (eucalypts), which gladdened our Aussie hearts.

We had dinner at a very nice bright and clean establishment on the horrible square. We had seen it the night before when it was well-patronisied. It was a surprise therefore when we were the only ones there (just after 8pm). As on the previous evening, the place filled up rapidly at 8:30pm, mainly with families with kids. I ordered calzone for the first time and was very pleased with the result. Our waitress was a little confused when I ordered a beer (for thirst, you understand) and wine for what we thought was both of us. She produced a bottle but only poured one glass, for Joan. It took a while for her to understand that we wanted the whole bottle (Nero d'Avola).

On the way back we stumbled upon one of the restaurants recommended on the first night. We were most pleased to discover that it will be open tomorrow night, a rest day for many establishments.