The Rock

Exploring Cefalù was a pleasure. Our hotel was situated just off the main drag of tiny streets lined with shops and hundreds of restaurants. While it was in a good location, our hotel room was definitely a far cry from our Scopello villa. The most challenging part was sitting on the toilet - the seat kept falling off and Ted had nightmares of tearing off important parts… you could brush your teeth, use the toilet, shower, and touch all 4 walls of the bathroom at the same time. Quaint. This is looking down from the roof of our hotel... close streets dodging cars and vespas. La Rocca from the roof of our hotel... One neat part was breakfast. We picked up a voucher at our hotel and wandered up the street to have a breakfast Sicilian style - at a bar having a cappuccino and a roll. (Note that bars in Italy are where you get coffee, really I’m not kidding). The bar was in the piazza sitting in front of the fortress-like Norman cathedral with la Rocca rising behind you. La Rocca literally means “the rock” and it dominates the town of Cefalù. That morning we met up with a group of friends - Coe, Linda, Ed, Roger, and also ran in to Adrian and Rod - and we climbed la Rocca. I made it up more than ¾ of the way to the Temple of Diane but many of the others went all the way to the castle at the top. Great views and a little picnic. Long way back down... Where is BR? The view from the Temple of Diana... We spent a lazy afternoon wandering around town. Ted and I ended up at the beach sitting on the breakwater drinking beer and waiting for the sun to set. Looking back and the town and up at the rock was spectacular. Oh yea, I'm happy... Then the group went to a Pupi show - a traditional Sicilian puppet show that was hard to follow but entertaining. Basically there was a lot of fighting (puppets got their heads chopped off) and some snakes and a woman was involved. We got to tour behind the set and see how it all worked. The puppets are big - they weigh like 30+ pounds - but your perspective got screwed up while watching the show and you started to think they were life size. Then when the puppeteers came out at the end you were like - holy crap they are giants!! The family who put on the show have been doing it for more than 4 generations - pretty cool. The evening ended with a nice dinner with friends, and of course, gelato. ~Chow~