Enjoying Cefalu

We start off our day on the terrace for another nice breakfast. Gina has made some homemade cake to go with the rest of the meal.

Cactus Eater

We also eat Indian Figs as they call the prickly pear fruit. We tried it yesterday and it is quite nice. Kind of a watermelon feel to it with some crunch seeds that you just eat. So now we are cactus eaters. Everyday we meet someone new and today at breakfast we have two women from Hong Kong and Singapore, John and Cassie, and a couple from Kraków. John and Cassie have to get going on their travels so we say our goodbyes. We enjoy some more conversation with the other people and then everyone heads down to start their days.
We are just going to wander around the small town and see what we find. The first stop is the Purgatory Church from 1668. It’s doorway sits at the top of a double stairway and inside it has a baroque style to it. We move along to the main cathedral in town. Near the cathedral, I spot one of many windows in Sicily that have Marzipan fruits and other items in it.

Colorful Treats

I realize that it would make a nice colorful picture and so I hope you all enjoy it. We round the corner and reach the cathedral which seems like it is too large for this town. Construction was begun in 1131 under Roger II and the interior has mosaics but unlike the ones we saw in Palermo, the mosaics here are only behind the alter and not on the side walls. Christ the Pantocrater is in the dome apse. There are only three of these in Sicily and now we have seen the all. This may complete our church going for today unless we stumble on another one we don’t know about.
Next up we wander to the train station so we can buy our tickets for Taormina tomorrow. It is easier to buy them ahead of time so we do not have to allow time for lines or broken ticket machines in the morning. Ticket buying accomplished, we walk towards a Pasticcheria that I had read about. No cannolis but we buy some very good looking pistachio cookies. Then we pass by another pasticceria and get a small mix of assorted pastries. They will make a nice afternoon snack with some of our Marsala wine. When we get back towards the BNB, we see a small place around the corner that is named Non Solo Pane. It means Not only bread so we go inside and end up getting two calzones and a slice of square pizza that just came out of the oven as our lunch. We carry all our goodies up to the terrace to enjoy the view with our food. Not a bad day so far.
After lunch, it is time for Carol to get to enjoy the great beach here. We walk there and go for a nice swim, then soak up some rays, then repeat.

Great Beach

We are really enjoying our time here. After two and a half months of traveling, Sicily is getting us to slow down the pace another few notches and just savor our journey and the places we are now in. Despite having my mothers “can’t sit still genes”, I occasionally am managing to just sit and enjoy a bit of not doing a whole lot.
Leaving the beach, we return to our terrace for some pastry snacks with Marsala and to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. We then shower and take an early evening walk before dinner. We find the lavatoio medievale which is the ancient wash area for the town complete with flat stones to scrub the clothes. It was still being used by people in the 1960s.

Wash Woman

This could be Carols favorite place in the whole town. Continuing our evening passagietta, we come to an old stone jetty and watch the sunset. Some more walking and it is very close to our dinner reservation time so we head off towards La Brace Restaurant. It got really good reviews and is run by a mother ( the cook) and her son ( waiter, bartender, maitre’d). The menu is explained to us and we choose our food for tonight. Tonight will be a mixed antipasto, rigatoni with sausage and fennel, and a veal Involtini. Some house wine will compliment the meal. The antipasto is a nice mix of cheese, salami, prosciutto, eggplant, artichoke, peppers, and bruschetta.

Antipasto

We take our time in tasting the different items. The pasta is excellent and the veal is wonderful. It is similar to my moms spiedini, rolled up and stuffed with breadcrumbs, tomato, and, currants. My mom does not put currants in hers but they did compliment the stuffing and meat adding a bit of sweetness. All in all, it was an excellent meal and we leave very happy that we were able to eat here. Tomorrow, we are on the move again so it will be Ciao to Cafalu.
Expenses
Pistachio Cookies from Biscottificio Pasticcheria. 5.5E
Pastries from L’Angelo Pasticcheria 3E
Non Solo Pane Lunch 4.8E
La Brace Dinner and Wine 33E
Scirocco BNB 57.7E
Walked 7 Miles