Cefalu is one of Sicily’s most popular beach resorts, true, but that’s only one of its three personalities. At the end of the beach, the ancient town sits below a giant rocky headland, and it its fringe is a thriving district of visitor-oriented restaurants and gift shops. It’s a three-for-one bargain, with an unusual cathedral thrown in for good measure.
The rock, the Rocca di Cefalu, is 270 meters high; the most intrepid can climb it for an amazing view of the town, as one TravelGumbo contributor did. The rock defines the town—it served as defense from the time of Greek rule around 400 BC, and it also limits the town’s expansion to one direction along its slopes.
We started our day in Cefalu with beach time, at a ‘lido’ where €40 gave us a large umbrella and two loungers in a designated row. We were fortunate to be assigned a spot with enough shade for me to hide out while my daughter and granddaughter enjoyed sea and sand.
Each lido in Cefalu has its own colors and occupies a specific beach section.
You can easily tell where the public beach with its variety of colors ends and lido-land begins.
We mistakenly thought the lido also supplied towels. Not to worry, a busy vendor was happy to sell us a couple at a price I wouldn’t have paid if there were a realistic choice. Other vendors sold cold sodas and an amazing variety of inflatable floats; under that tall pile in the picture, is a quite short vendor.
After beach time, we walked along the shore to the old town, where many of the buildings on a main street face the street on one side and come down to the edge of the water on the other.
At the end of the beach, parts of the old fortifications offer picturesque views, and some narrow ledges for the adventurous to wander out on.
The narrow streets leading from the waterfront up into the town center are crowded with visitors, cafes, restaurants, shops and gelaterias, but many of the side streets just off them are quiet and seemingly free of the hustle-bustle.
At the head of a plaza, and with The Rock as a background, stands the cathedral, a mix of Norman, Byzantine and what might be Romanesque. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open to visitors the day we were there, but I was able to visit it several years ago; my blog from that visit is HERE.
