Villa Belvedere Cefalu

... climb to get some of the most amazing views of the city below. Also it is a nice place to escape from the crowds below.
It was here that the Arabs built there town until the Norman conquest in 1063, forced the locals down from the mountain to the port below.

As our day was winding down to its end we noticed that the Gelati Festival was just setting up. *******s!

Tomorrow our Sicilian adventure continues as we head to Catania.

... Oh, speaking of which, while sitting in our lounge chairs by the pool, we were entertained by several starlings that had nests under the balconies. They'd come swooping out of the sky, dive-bombing the pool, and at the last possible second they'd change their course, dip their wings, and zoom away. We really enjoyed watching them. Back to our walk into Cefalu....the beach extends all the way to the old town, which was built in the 5th century B.C. The ...

Greetings from Cefalu....a beautiful city by the sea. And the best part is that they tell us our hotel is on the sea so we will have pool AND the beach!! Yesterday we did Mt. Etna and it about did us. We climbed to about 8-9,000 feet and part of it was up the slippery lava rock. Now that wasn't too bad, but THEN we got to come down the slippery lava slope! It was great and we felt good that we had done it ...

... but we're both having a joyous time reliving our youths around the breakfast table with fat bowls of coco krispies! Spent the past 2 nights in a bungalow recovering from our most recent sicknesses. Well worth the 40 euro per night charge. Fresh linen, comfy bed, on the beach, private patio with kitchen and hot shower. Well, pseudo hot shower. One of those electric rigs up on the wall that heat up enough water to fill a small sink, but it did the trick. One limb at a time.

Today I took a day trip to Cefalu. Cefalu is a small sea side town half way between Palermo and Messina. I randomly looked this city up after seeing a postcard picture in town and decided I had tos ee this. The town has a long history. On the hill behind the city is the ruins of a Temple of Diana built by the ...

... rocks. It was so beautiful and tranquil and i just wanted to lay there for the whole day, but seeing as we had so much to take in, we couldnt hang around for too long. We stopped off for something to eat at one of the restaurants along the beach and had a lovely pizza with plum tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and freshly shaved parmesan - YUM! We made our way through the cobbled streets which ...

... beautiful coast in a rubber inflatable. The coast is a series of rocky coves, interspersed with pocket handkerchief-sized beaches, green, turquoise and blue sea, and a backdrop of hills covered with native vegetation, and rocky bluffs. We swim, snorkel and sunbathe for over 5 hours, the conversation never flagging (even underwater :) and I get very sunburnt on all my white bits.
That night I stay in Palermo at Casa dei Amici (House of friends). As soon as I walk in I hear the ...

Being in Sicily On October 30 I headed to Atlanta, then to Rome, then to Reggio di Calabria in southern Italy. When all was said and done it was two days of traveling. I met up with my friends on the boat after getting ripped off by a taxi driver, had a bite to eat, then fell asleep. The next day we set sail early in the morning through the Straits of Messina and up along the northern coast of Sicily. For the first two days I couldn't ...

... shows up about 20 mins later, has a look, plays with some stuff under the dash and gets the bloody thing started in 5 mins!!! 50 Euros later we have Big Green humming again. Well it could have been worse and a lot more expensive. Any way its Guiseppe's last day and him and Salvatore invite us for some lunch which is lovely but they are cookin a barby and all they got is meat. So it was more of a BYO BBQ but was still cool to ...

Finally, Italy. We left with a local taxi {30 Euros per peson, but our driver picked us up at home at 0400... worth it -- Jessica says -- and took us to the desk of our airline at the airport} and watch the sun come up as we flew over the Alps. Tough. A bit of a bumpy landing as we arrived at the airport west of Palermo. Then a one hour drive to the town where our Hotel is located. Our hotel, the Kalura, is just a bit outside the ...