February 2nd was apparently a day spent mostly in our studio space working on the layout of our presentation boards... I vaguely remember being frustrated, so its probably for thebest that I don't remember more than that. I have very few pictures from the day besides a few of the water and rocks on the way to studio and some nice ones of the sunset on the way back to the hotel.
The night of February 2nd was pretty interesting... we had a dinner "with the mayor" at a very nice restaurant. Lots and lots of seafood... that's definitely the most octopus I've ever eaten. It was extremely good though, and we got a lot of courses, and a lot of wine, so it was a good time. Our table was pretty fun as well... the high point was probably when we ate Chris' roll while he was in the bathroom... you probably had to be there to appreciate it, but I remember laughing a lot that night.
The next day was definitely one to remember. Our last full day in Cefalu started with more documentation of our area... I wandered around Via Roma and some of our problem areas, trusty camera and sketchbook in hand, trying to gain more information the group could use.
The Peugeot lion attacking the city, on a garage in the "suburbs."
On Saturday mornings in Cefalu, the lungomare is closed to most vehicular traffic and a large bazaar sets up, with trucks, tents, and stands on both sides of the road bordering the sea, selling lots of food, clothing, and everything in between. It was a good opportunity to see the community out and about, and a vital component of our understanding of the site conditions for our Cefalu hotel project.
A mountain of olives... pretty much my worst nightmare. A mountain of olive oil, however, would be awesome...
Pretty shameless... but hey, whatever pulls in the American tourists.
Around mid-day, we met at our studio space to hammer out some last layout details before we left the city. We came to have a pretty good understanding of our direction and got much of the raw data, in the form of drawings and photographs, that we needed to present our issues effectively. Cefalu was small enough to get to know very well over the course of our time spent there, and is a great place with a lot of character. Seeing it in the summer, swimming with tourists and with double the population of the off-season, would definitely be something else. Pictures like this one, with a beach that is empty except for me, definitely wouldn't happen.
We decided to climb La Rocca in the afternoon after we were evicted from our studio space, so I walked back to the hotel to drop off my laptop. On the way, a man was making sand sculptures... I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it's better than I could ever do.
A stand selling fabric at the bazaar, which was closing up on my way back to the hotel.
After walking back to the hotel, returning downtown, and getting confused as to where our meeting place was, I finally started up the mountain with about half of our architecture group. Here we are near the start of our trek, dodging sheep doodoo and mysterious patches of blood on the rocky trail.
The view got pretty stunning pretty quickly, this shot was taken a little less than halfway up. It was a gorgeous day, around 65 with perfectly clear skies... we couldn't have asked for better weather. Actually, the weather was pretty phenomenal for most of our trip, which was pretty fortunate considering how much we were outside.
After stopping at a cave off the trail, we made it to the Temple of Diana, the ruins of which can be explored.
One of the remaining walls of the temple.
Onward and upward.
A view of some of the ruins we passed on our climb far below us.
Cefalu and some local flora.
One of the less bumpy parts of the trail.
Above the Temple of Diana, the road diverged, with one path taking you to the top of La Rocca and the other taking a side path farther outward on the mountain to a defensive wall running along an edge, with heartstopping views of the sea and the other side of Cefalu. This was also where the mountain's flock of sheep also happened to be hanging out, under the watchful eye of a pretty intense sheep dog.
Ace and Gary walking along the wall towards the overlook rock we were climbing on.
Maureen McKeron: Tomb Raider.
Sheep!
Sheep dog!
Our destination, still a ways away.
A group of goats, having few problems climbing the rocks.
Almost there...
The top! Standing on a wall at the ruins atop La Rocca, looking down at the port of Cefalu.
The wall and the land beyond. This about the time when a swim sounded really nice... we were kinda far from the water, though.
The money shot... in Cefalu, this is about as high as it gets.
Our triumphant group, taking in the view from the top.
On the way back down, we took a path just below the Temple of Diana that brought us to a cliff overlooking the historic center of the city.
The cathedral, dominating and anchoring the city.
The sea wall, taking the old city out into the water.
Another obligatory "I was here" shot.
Another shot of the cathedral... it's pretty illuminating to get to see the buildings from above in addition to experiencing them down at a normal walk-through level.
The old city divided into rectangular blocks by parallel roads.
Soaking up the "fanTAStic!" view, with Cefalu laid out before us in the late afternoon sun.
The path down... I almost fell more times going down than up, it was pretty perilous.
A wall near the bottom of the mountain.
Chris, Ev, and Will with their brave explorer faces on.
La Rocca against the crystal clear sky.
Flowers on the houses walking down into the city.
After our successful summit, Lauren, Connie and I shopped for bread, salami, and wine for dinner, then we headed back to the hotel. Us, plus Rose and Dan, ate our food down in the hotel bar, and then went to dinner at the apartment of some Italian students that Rose had met at our studio. They had an awesome place, with huge rooms and a balcony overlooking the water on the edge of the city. We had a nice homecooked dinner and learned a bunch of new Italian insults and swear words, so it was a win-win for everyone. After dinner, we wandered back to the hotel, and Dan, Connie and I spent our last night in Cefalu drinking wine on the beach. Salute!
