What to see and do in Cefalú

We arrived in Cefalú, eager to visit her again. In 2017, during our journey from Athens to Rio, we had already met her. But it is a city worth visiting again. Already from the water, its outline promises. We tied up in the same marina and Jorge remembered the face of the same sailor who gave us the bow lines two years ago.

We took advantage of the stop to do the interview with radio La Pampa, who had read the note in La Nación about our way of living traveling by sailboat, and were interested in talking to us. A few days ago, we had also been contacted by a radio in Bahía Blanca for the same reason. We are very grateful to them for wanting to spread our unconventional way of life, which some 5 years ago would have put it in the category of high rarity and madness.

At the beginning of the European summer, the heat was felt a lot. We dress in the city but cool to walk through the beautiful medieval streets of Cefalu. Fortunately, marine personnel brought us in an electric cart to the center. And it was very exciting to go back to those places that in 2017 we did not imagine that two years later we would visit again.

The color of the water here also looks turquoise because the city is surrounded by lows that, having less depth, clarify the marine tone, generating a very attractive blue and light blue gradient.

We saw people sunbathing on the big stones, we could not understand how they did not melt there without the possibility of bathing in that wonderful sea. We continued with our walk, we arrived at the pier, we saw a fisherman’s barge with flags of the colors of Italy and the papal colors. Later we would understand its function. We made our obligatory stop at the ice cream parlor to continue tasting pistachio ice cream. He was rich, but none so far comes close to the one we took in Poros, a Greek island of the Saronic group.

We go through the foot wash of the 1500, we approach the beaches of Cefalu, which are also sandy, transparent waters and with a large crowd on them. When we started the return walk, we had planned to enter its Cathedral that dates back to 1,100. We were surprised to see and hear a procession, which would then enter the Dome. Corpus Christie was being celebrated, there were people from other Dioceses and they were waiting for the Apostolic Nuncio.

Climbing the great stairs, we saw on the floor of the courtyard before the entrance to the building, the colorful images drawn with sand and pebbles. I was able to find the typical image of Sister Teresa of Calcutta with a child in her arms, an image of Jesus, and an image of the Virgin. Of course, it was necessary to move away a little, to be able to see in perspective and transform the sand of different colors into images on the retina.

We walked in and the cathedral was packed, lots of great ladies well dressed and styled, ready to celebrate. I felt a little embarrassed since I had a flower dress that my mother gave me with her shoulders completely bare, and it was not the right outfit for that place. We sat and waited, but the wait also became a time of rest in a cool place. The mixed choir that sang in the Cathedral made me get goosebumps. I wanted to listen to mass, but we were exhausted from the heat and the few hours of sleep we had after sailing at night.

Anyway, we walked back to the boat walking among the small streets and bordering the coast while enjoying the colors of the water.

After resting for a while, a delicious bite came and then we had Italian pasta dinner, some with freshly bought fresh mushroom sauce, others with pesto and an exquisite cold white wine. Pachi and I decided to go for a walk around the city at night. We had seen beautifully colored divine Italian silk dresses. Until very recently, I would have bought them when I saw them hanging on his coat rack, with the certainty that everything I wore would fit me. But now, the years are already forcing me to try everything, I am starting to find myself in this new body of a 50-year-old woman. And what a disappointment, those beautiful dresses that looked perfect on the hanger, no longer fit me as I would have liked. So, we left the premises, empty-handed, we walked, we took photos of ourselves on the waterfront and returned to the boat.

The feeling of walking the two of us alone at 10 at night without fear on the street is incredible. Something unimaginable to do in Buenos Aires, at least for me. Maybe we came back quickly, we were tired. And of course, there were reasons to be, on June 10 we had left Tivat, 12 days ago, but it seemed much more, we had already sailed 400 miles with stops in Santa María de Leuca, Taormina, Milazzo, the Aeolian Islands and now in Cefalu . What a rhythm !

But the desire to get to Mallorca was much, much greater than the desire to know new places more peacefully. So happy, the next day we put Mallorca forward.