Hotel E Villaggio Torre Normanna Altavilla Milicia

... London, London to USA and USA to home they notified me that there were no flights available under my ticket criteria until December! So, this has completely muddled me up. There is no point going back to Paris now or buying a ticket to go to the USA. So I will most likely fly from Rome to Asia somewhere then home. Baker was depressed....

Tomorrow

To morrow I intend to get a Sicilian haircut and catch another overnight boat to Sardinia to stay in a former Nazi hotel.

Do you know how sad it is to walk into a town with flags, posters and booths all advertising a Gelati Festival and there not being one person celebrating that festival. It is like rubbing salt into wounds.

This is how we arrived in Cefalu on a day trip, a town wedged between a mountain peak and a sandy beach. Cefalu is a historic town with winding medieval streets lined with small intriguing shops. It is also home to a great sandy beach ...

... and aubergine sandwiches, sweet custard filled croissants and our personal favorite Arancino (a deep fried rice ball stuffed with either meat, cheese or vegetables).

With our dreams slowly disappearing of being in India by January, and with weather on our side we decided to head out to Mondello to catch our last rays of summer sun on the beach.

Later that afternoon we went to see the Catacombs Dei Cappuccini, home to mummified ...

We wanted to see a bit of Palermo in the daylight before picking up our rental car and heading to Cefalu, so we packed up, left our bags at the front desk, and headed out into the city. While less frightening by day it was more crowded and the filth was more apparent. There were stinking piles of trash and garbage everywhere. I can't imagine it's like that all the time, perhaps the city was experiencing a garbage ...

... but Yikes!) Whereas the streets were dimly lit on our way in, they were ablaze with colored lights on our way to dinner. They were preparing for some sort of street festival.

Dinner was at a pizzeria just a five-minute walk up the street, Pizzeria Bellini. I was not taking any chances on getting lost in this city at night. It was nice place and doing a brisk business. We took a table outside in the piazza on the edge of the fray and watched the other ...

... after seeing so many. Our cruise is almost over - only one more
port tomorrow. Julie has already started packing. We bought some
mosaics in Tunisia yesterday to go with the other trinkets collected
along the way - not sure where it is all going to go...

... off to Monreale, a beautiful church on a hill (of course) overlooking Palermo. We only had to climb 99 steps to get there. It was worth the hike. After our tour we rode to the Night Ferry. We got set up in our rooms, then spent time in the lounge area. I was excited to see Rotisserie Chicken and salad for dinner. After we ate, we went back to the lounge to play cards. Robin taught us a game. We had a great time!

... the train station. Bad news to say the least. I reminded Mandy to be on guard!!!!!

The apartment was great with plenty of space for Denis' party on Saturday.

The four of us went out for dinner, various versions of pizza & vino. Early night after all that travelling Syracuse to Rome in a day.


Ciao

... Geimi is relatively new. People here treat me much more like a local than anywhere else I've ever been. I think it may just be my new "Sicilia" shirt I bought in Palermo (later on in the evening I got a comment on the shirt). It may also be that the people here have seen very few tourists. I got many "do you live here (sei di qua?)" and "are you a tourist on vacation (sei touristo?)" and "where are you from (di dove sei?)". Allora... After the ...

... wird es siche rnoch eine Weile dauern.

Als wir in Palermo das Schiff verlassen, ist das erste was auffällt mal wieder der Verkehr. Und wieder wundere ich mich, wie das funktioniert. Aber nach Genua und Neapel habe ich auch schon ein bisschen Übung und nicht mehr ganz so viel Angst, wenn ich mich todesmutig daran mache, eine Straße zu überqueren.

Da wir aber auch hier wieder nur einige Stunden Zeit haben, bis wir wieder auf dem Schiff sein müssen, können ...