Cefalu
Wednesday May 11 we headed out for the north coast of the island. We planned to cut across the tip, bypassing Messina, and there were a couple of mountain towns I wanted to see on the way. The first was Castiglione di Sicilia. It required a side trip off the route. But when we came to turn up the road the police were blocking it. We had to stay on the main route. We noticed them blocking other side roads too. We were also seeing a number of men in red jackets with lots of racing patches. This town was evidently having a race. But as we proceeded through the countryside and villages we saw more of the same. A couple of times we were stopped at crossroads and the only way we would be allowed to go was the way we wanted to go but whatever this event was it was bigger than we first thought. All this time we were climbing higher into the mountains. Finally at the top we were greeted with this:
The fellow directing traffic was franticly waving us through but we had to know, "what's going on?" so we stopped and asked him. It was the Giro d'Italia, the runup to the Tour de France. And this leg was Catania to Messina. So this was not the finish line, it was the high point of the race course. On through we went, not dallying. The riders behind us would be going downhill now. Before long though we heard sirens coming up behind us so we pulled over. A police car went blowing past us and a motorcycle cop pulled up beside us and explained in his best English that there was a long caravan of trucks coming and we were to wait until all of them had passed. These were the trucks for the team sponsors, about two dozen, and they went blowing by faster than we wanted to go on this little mountain road anyway. So we were glad to be behind them.
Just as we decided it was safe to pull back out onto the road what pops out in front of us though but this:
I guess sheep on the road are a natural hazzard to bike racing but American tourists are not.
As we drove down the mountain every village looked like this:
All the town folk were out watching so we waved graciously. This is Novara di Sicilia, the second of the towns I had wanted to visit, but we were not allowed to stop. I grabbed the picture below from a spot no one was guarding.
This continued all the way to the coast where the race course went east and we went west. So they had to manage the rest of the way without a pace car. It was all rather fun.
So west we went along the coast to Cefalu. One of the draws for us is that this is the ancestral home on Vinnie Valenza, owner of Blues City Deli in the old neighborhood on Victor St. We thought dropping his name might get us a free pizza. Didn't work though. His reputation has not quite reached back to the old country just yet.
This is a very old town. Much of what is here goes back to Norman times. But it has a nice beach too so it has kind of morphed into a resort town for tourists and Sicilians. Lots of little kids running around in swimming suits. We stayed here just one night and it was the only night we spent in a hotel. Everything other night was an Airbnb or Diana's. The hotel was right on the beach and very convenient and comfortable. The big photo attractions are a lighthouse, a Norman stronghold, and of course, the cathedral.
The Normans, besides being great soldiers, were very innovative in architecture too, or at least good at copying the best ideas of others. This cathedral is one of the first they would build. Given that none of the great cathedrals of Europe were built yet and the dominance of Greek culture on the island, they naturally looked to the Byzantines for ideas and artisans. And that meant mosaics. The crowning glory of this church is the large luminous mosaic of Jesus behind the altar.
We could have easily done another day here. Next time. Click the bottom image for a slide show.
