If there is one place from the trip so far where I wish we had more days, it has to be Siracusa. It was fabulous, and we loved it from the moment we stepped off the bus. Cefalu was also solid, though not without some hiccups. Read on!
Day 52: Spunky Siracusa
If you read our last blog post, you know that getting from Agrigento to Siracusa proved to be a bit of an ordeal. We didn’t arrive to our AirBNB until almost 11 PM, and then we were a bit too wound up to sleep.
We needed to sleep in, so we did and didn’t actually start our day in Siracusa until around 9:30 AM or so. Mastering bedtime and wake up times while traveling has been a challenge!
Lunch
I had read online about Caseificio Borderi, where the sandwiches were not just described as being the best in Sicily, but as being the best in the universe. There were a few complaints around the “theatre” of the sandwich making as well as how long lines could be.
Still the about us section of the website read like a description of the family business in The Godfather: “The Borderi Dairy was created in 1930 by Don Pasquale Borderi who was involved in the production and trade of Sicilian extra-virgin olive oil.”
I convinced Rich to give it a try.
When we arrived in the market, there were maybe 20 people in line in front of us. Not bad! Within our first two minutes of being there, the two principal sandwich makers had given a tourist a tray of pistachio-flavored cheese to offer everyone in the line to sample. Delicious!
However, we quickly realized this would be no ordinary sandwich line when the two gentlemen broke into song: “Ciao, Bianca, Ciaio, Bianca, Ciao, Bianca, Ciaaaaao.”
For every sandwich produced, the gentlemen completely stopped what they were doing and proudly did a song and dance around the area where the food was prepared.
I 10000% loved every second of it. Rich was a little hungrier than me so he loved about 80% of it, and the other 20% of him wished he could just eat his sandwich already.
When we reached the front of the line about an hour and a half later, the men asked where we were from, and when we responded the United States, they performed this elaborate ruse pretending to call Michelle Obama to let her know that we would be bringing some cheese back to her in the United States. It was ridiciculous and wildly fun.
And the most important part: the sandwich. So many fresh ingredients: tomatoes, cheese, herbs, salami for me and mortadella for Rich, mozarella, fresh lemon, soft bread. It was profound. We both agreed: the. best. sandwich. of. our. lives.
Exploring Siracusa
We did a whirlwind tour of the sites of Siracusa. We saw the cathedral, walked to the ancient amphitheatre a bit out of town, visited the Temple of Athena, and made it to the Castllo Maniace (a castle/fort on the water) by sunset.
Every step was beautiful, the people were friendly, and, as we shared, the food was delicious. We could have stayed in Siracusa for weeks.
Day 53: On to Cefalu, Sicily
We took an early morning bus out of Siracusa back to Palermo and then a second bus from Palermo to Cefalu. In line with most of our travel through Sicily, the second bus came about an hour after we expected it to arrive based on the information online.
We arrived in Cefalu early afternoon. The outside of our AirBNB was beautiful and included a huge outdoor terrace, complete with a full outdoor kitchen.
The inside of the AirBNB was dirty. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Redeeming about Cefalu was the huge, modern, incredible grocery store a football field away from our place. Imagine a Whole Foods when all you had seen for weeks was a Piggly Wiggly. We bought everything we needed to make burgers for dinner, which we were able to prepare outdoors. Bon apetite!
Day 54: Enjoying Cefalu
Cefalu is a popular tourist destination because it has beautiful beaches, an ancient town, and is surrounded by rocky hills– what more could you want?
We went for an early morning run and then headed to the beach for a few hours. The beach is crowded so we were right next to our neighbors, most of whom were Italian. I finished my book, and then the people watching kept me occupied!
We ate a late lunch, then showered, and headed into the ancient town for dinner. Because it was Saturday night, when we made it to the Cathedral, mass was in progress. We loved seeing the Cathedral in action!
Dinner was good but not particularly memorable. It was no sandwich in Siracusa!
We followed dinner up with some gelato (we are in Italy, duh), and then we headed back to the apartment for Rich to complete fantasy football draft #1 of 3…at midnight. Despite my stated desire to stay up late with him to cheer on his picks, I think I was asleep by the end of the first round!
I will speak for myself: I would have liked Cefalu better if I had felt more at home in our AirBNB (read: if it had been clean). We enjoyed running, the beach was beautiful, and the Old Town was really nice too. Still, for me, it was hard to totally relax, which surely dampened my experience of what seemed like an otherwise beautiful and fun place. Just keeping it one hundred.
