I was pretty taken with Cefalù. I had not expected it to
have retained such charm since its advent to practically
every tour firm’s brochure. My one disappointment was quite a
major one, that the lovely cathedral, with mosaics older than
those at Monreale [though nothing like as many,] was
undergoing repair, a place of noise and dust with little
mosaic actually showing. Never mind, you can’t win ’em all!
Somehow I missed the quickest way to the bus for Castelbuono
and I arrived in time to see the back of it as it left. It
was right by the train station and, as Castelbuono was the
very first stop and a train was almost due, I was not too
worried. In fact my only worry was during the short train
journey when I realised I had not validated my ticket!
Fortunately nobody had told me that the station was nowhere
near the town and that the walk was up a very long and pretty
steep hill. I only had seconds to worry about this, as the
fellow passenger who told me went on to offer a lift. We can
have been only a little behind the bus!
My lift was to the tourist office who started to look for
somewhere for me to stay that night. I quite fancied the idea
of a b&b for a change and the price sounded OK until they
phoned back to all but double it as I was on my own. No good.
The next attempt was the only hotel in the little town, as
far as I know, the Ariston. This was remarkably cheap and I
left my luggage at the tourist office to carry on uphill to
the castle before dropping down to the Ariston. The view,
both of the town below and of the hills of the interior in
the other direction confirmed the impression that it would be
a good walking centre. However there was no time to weigh
that up with only two nights left. I returned to the Ariston
and the very cheap price came to seem explicable. The
receptionist was playing cards with a couple of friends –
they called to mind Manet’s famous painting in the Courtauld
Gallery at Somerset House, London. Shortly after he had given
me the key I heard them – all – leave the hotel and that was
it. There was nobody else in the hotel from then until I left
in the morning. I do not remember the name of the place where
I ate. I suppose you might call it an Italian fast food joint
but it was just what I needed – fast indeed but remarkably
friendly. I should go again – just above the arch on the
right if you want to find it!
So back in the morning to Cefalù on the bus to catch the
train on along the coast. I had by now what I thought was
probably a pipedream, that it would be great to take a boat
out to one of the Aeolian Islands for a couple of hours if
timetables permitted – and they seemed to. This time the
mistake was not my fault. The departure board in the station
had been changed from the time-table from the tourist office
and I had to wait well over an hour for the next train – and
pay extra for the privilege because it was called an express.
It would hardly be reasonable for an Englishman to complain
about the train service anywhere but this was actually as bad
as ours at near their worst.
Thus I arrived at Milazzo very uncertain whether it was going
to be possible to do anything. I discovered that by taking an
aliscafo [hydrofoil] I could get just about an hour on
Lípari. I am and I was very aware that an hour on
Lípari is absurdly insufficient. On the other hand it
was nearly an hour more than nothing and allowed a sight of
Vulcano on the way – and the sea was like a mill pond. There
was really no contest in my mind; I went and I am glad I did
– though I should certainly like to go again for longer and
see some of the other islands as well.
After the trip, reported in the next edition, I was rather
too tired to walk up to the castle at Milazzo but it looked
striking enough towering over the town. I was there at a time
when the industrial smoke said to spoil the town so badly was
absent and it seemed a good place. I stayed at the Central in
the Via del Sole, an ordinary little place with shared
bathrooms, cheaper but otherwise much the same as several
others. I ate at a sort of shop/cafe at the far end of town
from a wonderful spread of antipasti type dishes – very
cheaply indeed.
David was a keen walker, particularly on mountains before he
developed serious heart problems in 1995. He has now adapted
his holidays to what he is able to do and we are presenting
his account of 12 days in Sicily over this and the coming
months. Next two episodes: Palermo.
Next episode – Aeolians , Messina, Taormina.
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The ceremony over, it opened to the public and
suddenly it became what it was meant to be. The sun
shone, the temperature soared, the people filled the
memorial, people from all walks of life and different parts
of the world; dipping their feet and walking in the cool
water.
Planning a
visit to London or already live in London or visit, well,
Gordon regularly hosts get togethers for visitors and local
people alike to go to the theatre and concerts, sometimes
free and sometimes at reduced cost. He also hosts
suppers at selected restaurants – the picture shows a group
of Gordon’s friends.