We caught the 1150am ferry from Stromboli back to Milazzo, and made stops at pretty much all the other Aeolian Islands on the way. Fortunately, it was another smooth crossing, and we were shuttled back to our car and were soon on the open road. An hour and a half later, we arrived in Cefalu, a resort area on the coast, that is fairly dead this time of year. When we arrived, it was overcast and quite cold, but we did have a nice room with a very large balcony overlooking the ocean and the rocky shoreline. Our hotel was outside the city by a few minutes drive, so we didn’t have many food options. We drove around for a bit, getting lost in the process. Not all was lost, however, because we ended up finding a good overlook of the city. I can assure you it looks better from a distance. Up close, it was quite grungy and a bit dirty in appearance.
We ultimately ended up stopping at a supermarket that most closely resembled an Aldi, as they didn’t have any name brand items. We got a bottle of wine for less than 2 euro, a big block of cheese, and some chocolates. The price was right. We also made a quick stop at a bakery/pizzeria type place that had sfincione, a local specialty that is essentially thick bread with sauce and other seasonings (basically a thick pizza). We came back to the hotel and ate on the balcony. The sun had now come out a little bit, which made it slightly warmer. We watched the sun set and had a relaxing evening.
The following day, we hit the road for a long drive down the middle of the country to the southern coast to the town of Agrigento, where the Valley of the Temples is located. It is a massive complex of Greek temples, so one would think it would be easy to find the parking and ticketing area. You would be wrong. We eventually found the lot, which was really just a crudely constructed dirt plot of made-up spots. We hit up three of the main temples, starting with the Temple of Concordia, which was situated up on a hill with a good overview of the entire area. The next temple was in the best condition, and they decided to have an overturned statue of Icarus in front of it for a photo op I guess. There was one more temple down the road, but there wasn’t much to look at, just a few columns remained.
After the temples, which provided good exercise for us, we searched for our next hotel, which was about 20 minutes outside the city and in the hills. It was difficult to find the place, then difficult to find the reception. We eventually caught the eye of an individual who was . . .staring at us. We had walked with our bags all over the property, unable to find the reception, but Eyes McGee didn’t offer any help, just his peepers. After an awkward amount of time, Eyes simply said, “Prego,” and pointed toward a building we had just been to, but had concluded was just a restaurant. We finally checked in and then went to the room, which seemed to be handicap room, but was also a loft with impossibly narrow and uneven stone steps leading to the bedroom, so we were a bit perplexed. In any event, we had a lot of space.
We initially planned to pick up some sfincione like the previous night, as we picked up a cheap Sicilian wine an MD (the Aldi-esque supermarket), but this proved to be more challenging than expected. The nearest town was one called Realmonte, and it was quite small. There were a few pizza places and so forth, but the town had a very strange vibe...and everyone was looking at us. Clearly we were the outsiders, and everyone knew it. We continued on our way to the coast because I saw a sign for sea cliffs. It was an interesting and brief diversion from our task at hand — dinner.
We regrouped and gave Realmonte another shot. We did eventually park the car (which is a kind of choose-your-own spot situation). There were one way streets that were not being adhered to and this was made clear by the way people were parking anywhere they saw fit. The one pizzeria we looked at had no physical door, and the deserted streets kind of creeped us out, though there was a man selling tons of garlic out the back of a truck. While this provided some comic relief, we were quick to hightail it out of the town. We ended up driving to another town about ten minutes away. This one was a bit busier and we put in an order for a couple margherita pizzas, which we had to wait 20 minutes for since they were made from scratch. We sat in the car to wait, where we watched a military truck stop and some soldiers go on patrol through the neighborhood. Nicole and I concluded that clearly we are in an area that is influenced by the mafia, and we probably bought pizza from a mob boss.
That being said, Nicole very much enjoyed it. We ate them as if they were sandwiches because the pizzas are never sliced in Italy and we didn’t have any utensils back at the hotel. It was a solid meal that only cost 6 euro for both pizzas. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and eating on our outdoor patio.
We ultimately ended up stopping at a supermarket that most closely resembled an Aldi, as they didn’t have any name brand items. We got a bottle of wine for less than 2 euro, a big block of cheese, and some chocolates. The price was right. We also made a quick stop at a bakery/pizzeria type place that had sfincione, a local specialty that is essentially thick bread with sauce and other seasonings (basically a thick pizza). We came back to the hotel and ate on the balcony. The sun had now come out a little bit, which made it slightly warmer. We watched the sun set and had a relaxing evening.
The following day, we hit the road for a long drive down the middle of the country to the southern coast to the town of Agrigento, where the Valley of the Temples is located. It is a massive complex of Greek temples, so one would think it would be easy to find the parking and ticketing area. You would be wrong. We eventually found the lot, which was really just a crudely constructed dirt plot of made-up spots. We hit up three of the main temples, starting with the Temple of Concordia, which was situated up on a hill with a good overview of the entire area. The next temple was in the best condition, and they decided to have an overturned statue of Icarus in front of it for a photo op I guess. There was one more temple down the road, but there wasn’t much to look at, just a few columns remained.
After the temples, which provided good exercise for us, we searched for our next hotel, which was about 20 minutes outside the city and in the hills. It was difficult to find the place, then difficult to find the reception. We eventually caught the eye of an individual who was . . .staring at us. We had walked with our bags all over the property, unable to find the reception, but Eyes McGee didn’t offer any help, just his peepers. After an awkward amount of time, Eyes simply said, “Prego,” and pointed toward a building we had just been to, but had concluded was just a restaurant. We finally checked in and then went to the room, which seemed to be handicap room, but was also a loft with impossibly narrow and uneven stone steps leading to the bedroom, so we were a bit perplexed. In any event, we had a lot of space.
We initially planned to pick up some sfincione like the previous night, as we picked up a cheap Sicilian wine an MD (the Aldi-esque supermarket), but this proved to be more challenging than expected. The nearest town was one called Realmonte, and it was quite small. There were a few pizza places and so forth, but the town had a very strange vibe...and everyone was looking at us. Clearly we were the outsiders, and everyone knew it. We continued on our way to the coast because I saw a sign for sea cliffs. It was an interesting and brief diversion from our task at hand — dinner.
We regrouped and gave Realmonte another shot. We did eventually park the car (which is a kind of choose-your-own spot situation). There were one way streets that were not being adhered to and this was made clear by the way people were parking anywhere they saw fit. The one pizzeria we looked at had no physical door, and the deserted streets kind of creeped us out, though there was a man selling tons of garlic out the back of a truck. While this provided some comic relief, we were quick to hightail it out of the town. We ended up driving to another town about ten minutes away. This one was a bit busier and we put in an order for a couple margherita pizzas, which we had to wait 20 minutes for since they were made from scratch. We sat in the car to wait, where we watched a military truck stop and some soldiers go on patrol through the neighborhood. Nicole and I concluded that clearly we are in an area that is influenced by the mafia, and we probably bought pizza from a mob boss.
That being said, Nicole very much enjoyed it. We ate them as if they were sandwiches because the pizzas are never sliced in Italy and we didn’t have any utensils back at the hotel. It was a solid meal that only cost 6 euro for both pizzas. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and eating on our outdoor patio.
No comments:
Post a Comment