At 6:30 a.m. my eyes flew open without help from any cranky alarm clock. With that delicious feeling you get when you first arrive at a new place, I dashed to the window and peered out into our first full day in Sicilia. Blue skies greeted my thirsty eyes. Across the street and down the next block, a flea market was unfolding. “Denio’s, Palermo-style!” I exclaimed to Gino. (Denio’s is our local weekly flea market.)
People were hanging clothes on fences and draping them over roofs of cars, spreading goods out on the sidewalk and on makeshift displays.
Around the breakfast table with Leo and Louise (who were sadly leaving for home), Giorgio suggested Gino and I take a day trip to Cefalú since many sites in Palermo would be closed for Sunday. Since we had planned to visit Cefalú anyway, we took his advice and made this the day.
Armed with a map of Palermo, we found our way to the train station, wading through the growing flea market that spilled into the streets of the neighborhood. Aside from the impromptu tables sprouting up everywhere we looked, we passed apes parked along the streets, heaped with fish, green cauliflower, fruits, and fresh bread.
An ape. Pronounced “ah-pay” and meaning “bee,” these are the tiny
three-wheeled cargo vehicles that buzzzz everywhere throughout Italy.
At the station, we boarded the next train to Cefalú, a quaint fishing village about an hour’s ride east along the coast. The train followed the edge of the sea and we clacked along, noticing the profusion of Fichi d’India cactus with its globes of rose-colored fruit hanging in clumps. It grew everywhere.
Colors of buildings flashed by: cream, muted yellows, faded mustard, delicate pinks and salmon, all ranging from luminescent to dingy. The architecture reflected a unique blend of Middle Eastern and Italian.
Hillsides cascaded down to narrow beaches which met the Tyrrhenian Sea, swirling with sapphire, emerald, and turquoise.
