Cefalu

After Trapani we were off to Cefalu where we stayed for the next week.  Cefalu is a pretty coastal town that became famous for being the town where Cinema Paradiso was filmed.

We stayed at the Villa Margherita, in the heart of the old town.  It is run by Valerio, a very friendly Italian fellow who (I'm guessing) would be in his mid- to late-thirties.  It wasn't a cheap B&B, but nothing in Cefalu is.  Unfortunately, the charms of the town are a poorly kept secret, meaning that the place is packed with tourists during the summer.  Bearing that in mind, we were very happy with our accommodation.  Every morning saw a delicious breakfast spread of fresh cornettos (croissants), fruit and fruit juice. Valerio was unfailingly cheery and helpful and also had a very cute dachshund, Lulu, that he let me take for a walk.

Cefalu itself is a small and quiet town, which suited us perfectly.  We bought ourselves a beach umbrella and happily spent hours lying on the beach, admiring the view and reading our books.  We would break up the days by eating gelato, pasta and drinking wine.

It wasn't all pasta and gelato, however. G and I did manage to fit in a rigorous climb up "the rock", or La Rocca.  This is a one hour climb up a steep rock on which there are the remains of a medieval castle, norman castle and the Tempio di Diana (9th Century BC).  The top of the rock also offers incredible views over Cefalu.

Tempio di Diana

G and I admired the local Cathedral with its beautiful mosaic.

I also spent a few evenings jogging around the town, while G would go for a walk, each of us enjoying the sunset and working off our pasta meals in our own ways. G also managed to take some pretty spectacular photographs of the sunset.

The lovely thing about Cefalu is that, even though it is overrun by tourists in summer, it is still a working, bustling Sicilian town.

If this is all sounding pretty idyllic, it's because it was.  The only exception was one night when a crazy storm blew in, flooding large parts of the town.

But despite the storm, and the damage it created, the following day was still lovely and sunny and we spent it on the beach. All up, it was a pretty perfect holiday.  The only disappontment was having to return home to work.