Day 55: Palermo to Cefalu

April 11, 2023

Along the coast

Like getting away from any urban area, this morning is no different leaving Palermo. We ride the wrong way down the main pedestrian shopping street, skirt past the train station and drop down to the sea shore. There we pick up route 113 that will take us all the way to Messina. There is fairly heavy traffic at first on very bad road surface so we have to pay attention weaving around. We are not the only cyclists; there are quite a few racers out for a morning ride. Eventually we lose some of the traffic when we stay on 113 and a newer interstate like highway starts towards Messina. We stop at a bakery for some nice, still warm fresh bread and a little further at the Trabini Roman Bridge we make our sandwiches.

Breakfast in our hotel with Ricardo from Ecuador and is riding Sicily with his son. They are going in the opposite direction from us.

The interstate bridge. Route 113 parallels the interstate

We have several beautiful sections of riding on a winding road right along the Mediterranean with waves breaking on the rocks, a couple of old fortresses, vacation homes and large hotel complexes. We also see trash everywhere, derelict buildings and abandoned factories.

Stopping to buy bread for our lunch sandwiches

Roman bridge. We stopped on the new bridge and sat at a bench looking at this bridge eating lunch

As travelers we sometimes sanitize what we see by only focusing on the pretty parts that we expect and want to see, while ignoring the ugly portions. Especially taking photos we are so conditioned to crop out anything that would ruin the pretty picture, who wants to see a power line right across the seascape? Reality though is that 95% of the vista does have that power line, we just wait for the right moment where a photo can be taken without it.

Quaint abandoned farmhouse amidst fields of flowers. A nice photo that does not show the whole picture.

Same farmhouse overwhelmed by ugly apartment buildings. A very different story.

There is a fair amount of climbing today, but no really big hills, just many ups and downs. We make good time though, and right at about two, check-in time at our hotel we get our first view of Cefalu. The town has a spectacular setting along the sea and against a towering rock. The cathedral dominates the skyline. We get some nice panoramas of the town as we ride in closer.

The old center of town is closed to most traffic, the roads are narrow, paved with large granite stones (very slick when wet) and filled with pedestrians. Our hotel has a good location only one road from the shore but right in the middle of things. The bikes are no problem, just down the street, under a derelict building is a cellar locked with a steel gate. Our bikes get parked in there. There is an elevator and we get a nice room on the third floor with a balcony overlooking the street. On the fourth floor is a large roof terrace with a view over the town and Mediterranean Sea. Patrick finds beer and potato chips and we rest up a while.

Hotel La Giara. We unload the gear into the lobby. The bikes go to a garage a little way further down the street.

Later in the afternoon we walk the city streets and have decent burgers at the “George Pub”. The Messina lager is very nice on draft. Patrick’s sister took a vacation in Cefalu last year and highly recommended an ice-cream sandwich place in front of the Cathedral. It is closed today though, and after we finish our large beers at the pub we are too cold for ice-cream. We make it back to the hotel just in time to catch the sunset from the roof terrace.

The street to the right of the white building leads to our hotel

Friendly waiter at the St. George Pub.Their motto: Meat makes meat, bread makes belly, wine makes dance.

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Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,836 km (1,140 miles)

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