The rain came on while we were halfway up La Rocca in Cefalu, but luckily I got a photograph in first.
I’ve never found the Italians to be all that hot on health and safety and so was surprised when a chap at the bottom counted people up, then down again. Mind you the cobbles were lethal in the wet, so that is possibly why.
The view of Cefalu is much more attractive than that of Palermo. In the decades after the Second World War many beautiful nineteenth century villas were torn down in Palermo to make way for ugly, boxy, grey tower blocks. One piece of good news is that money seized from the Mafia is now being spent to re-generate the city.
While in Cefalu, we also popped into the Cathedral. After having been to Monreale, I felt we were visiting a poor relation. There are not as many mosaics and far fewer tourists.
I am actually writing this from our apartment in Trapani where we moved this morning. The apartment is rather grim after our wonderful place in Palermo (which I’d recommend for the accommodation and its location if you like the same things as we do). However we’re telling ourselves that this wouldn’t be an ‘adventure’ if we were using five star hotels all the way, would it? And besides, what do you expect for €30 a night? We think it’s a good excuse to have a few meals out.
Before I leave talking about Palermo, I must tell you about the puppets. Now I’m a bit of a puppet fan, so try and see them wherever I can. The show (Cartuccio Puppets) was in Italian, but if you have a vague idea of the history of Sicily, you can easily follow the action. It is all swashbuckling stuff with sword fights and strutting around in armour. Each puppet is manipulated, as far as I could see, with three rods, one to each of the arms, and the third to the head. The puppeteers are able to move the puppets very subtly, giving them a wonderful lifelike appearance.
Well, I will finish with a painting of ‘Vucciria’ by Renato Guttuso.
Sadly, the market is now a shadow of its former self, but if you are interested in the artist, you can see more of his work at Villa Cattolica in Bagheria.
Tortoise Travel 