Wednesday - Cefalú

Cefalú

We woke up and decided to go into Palermo, which was a really bad idea, I can only imagine what it must be like driving in countries like Egypt when you face traffic in Palermo, thank goodness I don't drive in foreign countries.  Once we had eventually made our way out of Palermo again we decided to head East to Cefalú, which is first mentioned in 396 BC in an account by Diodorus Siculu, but thge city is more famous for its medieval monuments. 

We found parking and then headed into the old city, once again found a pavement cafe and had some lunch and then decided to go and see the Tempio di Diana a megalithic construction with a portal dating from the 9th century BC.

As we started to walk up this steep pathway, D said he was going back to the car to put money in the meter and get his camera, so Em and I continued walking, it went up and up and up and up, normally I would give up half way up but with it just being Em and I, she kept saying come on mom, so up we went we eventually reached the Tempio di Diana, looking down from there, I realised how far we had climbed, the view was beautiful and the photos don't do it justice.  I waited for D, because I wasn't sure whether he would follow, he probably thought I would never do it.  When he arrived at the top huffing and puffing, I think he was just a wee bit shocked to see me there, it was a great sense of achievement and I was so pleased I had done it.

If we had a map or read some information we would have seen that we could have actually climbed up further to La Rocco, which is the top of the Rock where there are ruins of a 12th - 13th century castle. 

Once down the hill we walked along the streets of the Ancient City, to the Norman cathedral built in the 12th century, it was beautiful.  But all these Catholic churches around Europe just make you realise what opulence the catholic churches have, the Gold leaf and wealth is surely a sin, especially when there are so many of their people living in poverty.  

We walked down to the Marina, and it was so beautiful to see the old men sitting on a bench chatting away, this is what life is all about.  We took a slow walk back to the car, popping in and out of designer shops.  I saw a beautiful bag, which I thought might be a nice birthday present for me, but it was €247.  Why do I have such expensive taste, anyway gave that one a miss, I guess if I was working I wouldn't feel to guilty about spending the money, but as I told my mother in law all I spent was €10.00 on an apron, dish cloth and tot glass.

We got back in time to get a few groceries and went back to the apartment to make dinner and relax, another beautiful day.