Trip Report

October 3, Tuesday

Another sunny and warm day. I checked with our house sitter today to see how our elderly cats are. All is well so I am relieved.

Today we drove east on the autostrada towards Messina to San Stefan di Camastra, a town known since medieval times for it's ceramics. After the usual excitement of driving through an Italian village we found parking along a strip of ceramic shops. The prices were low but so seemed the quality. We walked up into the center of town where the streets were lined with shop after shop selling beautiful ceramics. I knew I'd know it when I saw it and I found it in a shop called Décor. Pretty bowls. I bought four. Three to be Christmas gifts and one for myself. They would ship them back to the states for us. I was pleased!

Ceramic shop	Decor Ceramiche - where we bought the pottery	Very tall autostrada bridge (!)

We got back on the autostrada and headed for Castelbuono, a bustling mountain town near the park del Madroni. We had a lunch recommendation there. We again had the excitement of driving through impossibly narrow streets crammed with cars and people. But after a bit we popped out in the relative spaciousness of the castle parking lot, way up at the top of the town. On the way up we had spotted the sign to Nargalarruni (our restaurant).

We entered the restaurant after walking around the town some. We were the first people there. Turns out their specialty is mushrooms. For me that was great. Not so for Luther. We split the degustation antipasti which started with a cold salad, piled with assorted wild mushrooms and a small dollop of goat cheese. Next a plate with three things. Not sure what they all were. I think one was tomato and ricotta; one was a little cake which tasted slightly sweet like corn meal. And last an aubergine with mushrooms on top.

I ordered the spaghetti with tartufi de Norcine. Luther got Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes. Both were perfectly al dente.

Just next to us sat a French couple on a motorcycle holiday. They were retired, a nurse and a printer and a bit older than us. They had been a month and a half on the road from Paris. Their last vacation they had spent 1 1/2 years (!) in Australia and New Zealand. They also bicycle. Anyway, we had a spirited conversation with him (she didn't speak much English I think). I love meeting different sorts of folks.

We had an excellent Nero d'Avola with lunch. This is the premiere red in Sicily. Very grapey and bold. Then we blasted back down the mountain and followed the coastal road to Cefalú ending up in the pedestrian zone. Oh well, it was another adventure.

Castle in Castelbuono	Sign to our restaurant	Inside the restaurant	Stairs in Castelbuono

A note about our shower. This room had an amazing, space age shower. It looked like a futuristic transporter booth. It glowed with colored light that you could change. There was a radio with four channels. A control panel controled the hand held shower and the one directly overhead. Then there were seventeen (!) jets placed up and down plus two on the floor. The control panel also had six settings - sport, natural, reflex, stimulate, vortex, and refresh. I tried them all. When you finish your shower you felt as thought you have been beaten about, but you were definitely clean!

At six we decided to have a glass of wine on our balcony. The balcony overlooked the front entrance and the sea. We could watch all the comings and goings and as I had noticed before, no one ever looks up. We strolled to the Centro Storico and were going to La Botte again but instead we tried another place called La Brace. It was smallish and cozy. Owned by some Dutch people I heard. I wasn't very hungry after that big lunch so I opted for an appetizer of melon and Marsala. Very refreshing. Luther got the antipasti plate. It had two meats, olives, eggplant, very thin, a bruschetta with tapenade, mushrooms etc. I tried some and it was good.

Cool shower!	Beach in front of the hotel	View from our balcony

For mains we had, me a fish called Caponese (local). It was a fried filet and good. Luther had lamb chops with rice. They looked good and he liked them.

Another good day.

October 4, Wednesday

We slept a little later and then, after breakfast, we headed to the Bosco di Ficuzza - a park definitely off the beaten track. A nice drive up into the mountains where it was much greener and lusher. The little town of Ficuzza was quiet. There was a large building in the center of town being renovated. We were going to go for a walk in the woods. People laughed at our inadequate shoes. We opted to walk along the defunct railroad that was now a path. There was also a restaurant in the old station building called Antica Stazione Feroviaria. It was at the beginning of the path and the real reason for our coming here.

The path was mostly gravel and hard to walk on. My feet were really hurting. We saw heards of cows with tinkling cowbells. We walked about two hours and then drove to the restaurant for lunch.

There were two other tables outside with people at them. There were umbrellas overhead. You could tell we were sitting on the old train platform. While there a thunderstorm blew up necessitating some moving about of chairs and tables to avoid the drips. We ordered antipasto antica stazione. It was huge. Mushrooms, eggplants with olives and celery marinated, then a plate of ham, cheese and sausages. Another plate with stuffed mushrooms and cooked eggplant, last (finally) a hot plate of melted cheese. Very good but very much. We also had spaghetti with ragu of pork and a local specialty of a sort of vegetable egg roll wrapped in leaves (maybe cabbage?) with fried potatoes. Another very nice Nero d'Avola accompanied the meal.

Again the people at the next table asked us where we were from. They expressed surprise that we were so off the beaten track - tourist-wise. It is nice that we do try these odd destinations. It lets you see something other than landmarks and piazzas. And the folks you meet are nicer.

Path to restaurant	Us at restaurant	Yum!	Yum!

Next we waddled off to visit Montreale. The road there was through beautiful dessert-like mountains and scenery. Lots of grapevines and olive groves. Prosperous looking, with pretty houses.
Countryside along the way to Montreale.

We had to drive through some very small towns. Incredibly crowded, tiny streets. Always a little nerve wracking. Montreale was lovely. They said it had the second largest area covered in mosaics in the world after Istanbul. Just gorgeous.
The cloister in Montreale. The pillars are inlaid with gold.	The cloister in Montreale.	Inside Montreale cathedral. All mosaics	Inside Montreale cathedral. All mosaics

We decided a picnic in our room was in order for tonight after such a big lunch. In Cefalú we found a supermarket and bought cheese, ham and bread sticks. Luther went for wine and I soaked my feet.