Trip Report

September 30, Saturday

A new adventure. We flew on a Boeing 747 Lufthansa in Business Class (frequent flier miles). Quite nice even though it was an old plane. It was to be a long trip. We arrived at 6:15 in Frankfurt then connected to Rome arriving there at 9:30AM. Our arranged AirOne flight to Palermo was to leave at 12:30 and that would have gotten us to our hotel mid afternoon. But it was not to be. They canceled that flight and put us on the 4:30 flight. So we had to sit in Terminal A from 9:30 until 4:30. Not an easy feat because we couldn't check in until noon and we had our luggage so couldn't go anywhere plus we had no sleep and were jet lagged making it hard to stay awake. Even worse, there was not a chair to be seen in the terminal. There was a small café where we camped out for a couple of hours. [see picture - right] Finally we could check in and we had lunch upstairs in the terminal. There were chairs upstairs. Not sure of the rational of not having any downstairs.

The one good thing to happen was that a Lithuanian man started talking to us about US politics etc and thanks to him we could stay awake. He was a physicist who was on our fight to Palermo as well. We were at odds on the politics but he was an interesting guy.

We arrived at about 5:30 in Palermo. Striking scenery on the approach. Big mountains rising straight up. Very arid and devoid of much vegetation. The airport was right on the water.

We rented our fiat diesel Punto. [see picture - right] It was black and pretty spunky. We were very glad to have nothing bigger during our stay, let me tell you. We got on the Autostrada and knew we'd have to get past Palermo. It was a Sunday so we hoped for ok traffic. It was slow through the city but the rest of the way was smooth sailing.

We exited towards Cefalú and drove into town in a long string of traffic. I had a bad map from the internet site and knew that our hotel was on the water. The route put us right in the center of town so we turned left and then left again at the water and soon we saw the blue neon sign of Hotel Villa Gaia.

We got checked into our room which was to be home for five nights. It was a suite with a nice big balcony that had a table, two chairs and two chaise Lounges. The floors were cool tiles, the bed comfortable. There was a frig and a safe. Quite nice overall.

Before we left I had done a lot of research on sights and restaurants which I had condensed and put into the order of our trip around the island. We chose one of the recommendations and asked the hotel clerk how to get there. He gave us a map and showed us where the Restaurante Botte was. We were very tired but very hungry. The walk into the Centro Storico (old town) was about 10 minutes.

There was no English spoken but that was not a problem. I had a pasta with clams and a mussel soup. Luther had fresh macaroni and a Sicilian specialty of cheese and meat. The two wines we tried were both Sicilian as would be the case with all of the wines we tried while there. We found them to be very good quality and not expensive.

Back to the hotel. I was surprised I could write this journal that night! Luther was snoring.

October 2, Monday

What a full day it was! We got up around 7:30. We had our breakfast on the terrace in front of the hotel facing the ocean where tables were set up. I had a croissant and yoghurt. There was a little kitten, orange tabby and very thin. Also very skittish. The Italians are not responsible people when it comes to animals. The country has countless strays. I gave this little guy some ham and he attacked it like he was starved. His mom showed up with a gray tabby kitten to complete the family. We would feed them everyday of our stay. So would most other guests. I can't help but wonder what will happen to them when the winter comes.

We hoofed it up to the train station and for 8 Euro got two tickets to Palermo. We got there in about 50 minutes.

We headed for the Centro Storico on the via Roma. First we headed for North Palermo and the Piazza Marina. There was large fenced in Park Garibaldi with huge fig trees. The city had lights all over the place. Looked to be little white lights. They were on buildings and up above the streets. [see picture - right] It must be fantastic at night!

We took a tour of the Palazzo Abatellis. There was a lot of very old art, woodcarvings and fresci. Most notable was "The Triumph of Death" by an unknown artist. Under the skeletonized horse and rider were many bishops and priests as well as merchants. In the end, we all pay the piper.

There were a multitude of Madonnas and Christs, ad infinitum. But the best was a beautiful portrait of Mary by Antonello da Messina of the annunciation. Calm and very realistic, reminiscent of a Vermeer. Lovely.

After this we visited the home of a noble family built from the 15-18th centuries. It was donated and it came with all its furniture intact.

Nearly time for lunch we visited the Mercado della Vucciria - the Market. [see picture - left] Very happening scene. Our first choice for lunch was closed. We ended up in the Piazza San Francesca at the Antico Restaurante. It was in a pleasant and pretty quiet piazza with lots of tables under big umbrellas. I'd say the clientele was about 50/50 locals and tourists. Here we split the antipasti rustico. I had the Pasta del Giorno, which was Linguini with prawns and a pistachio pesto sauce (a specialty of the region). It was one of the best things I had on the whole trip but SO rich I thought I might pop. Luther had very fat spaghetti.

Art from Palazzo Abatellis

We headed for South Palermo. We first visited the cathedral. It was built on the site of an early Christian basilica and later a mosque. It still had some of the Arab influences. We search in vain for an Arab inscription that was supposed to be there.

Next we walked all around the parliament building to find the entrance of the Cappella Palatina. Too bad it was undergoing such extensive restorations. What we saw was amazing and there were pictures of what was covered up. [see picture - left] If I ever go back I will visit it again.

Tired and for me, foot sore, we returned to the train station and got back to Cefalú by around 6PM. We walked through the throngs on the streets and I marveled that as crowded as it was it was nothing compared to Palermo. My impressions of Palermo were as of so many Italian cities - utterly hectic.

We shopped for Wine on our way back to the hotel to put in our refrigerator. We stopped at the desk and got some cold wine to enjoy before dinner on our balcony.

Dinner was a big disappointment this night. The name of the restaurant was La Vecchia Marina. Too rushed, too bright, not friendly. We hurried through eating and headed back to the hotel. I won't even go into what we ate. Not worth the words.

It was a good day.