Tourist traps can be nice

Sicily, Italy – May 2022

It‘s another late evening at the Balarm Hostel in Palermo, Sicily. I‘m talking to Ian from Chile, whom I met a week ago in Catania. He’s one of the volunteers working here. Earlier that day, Ian invited me to join him and Pedro (another Latin-American volunteer) for a day trip to Cefalù. Just as we discuss which train we should leave on the next morning, Julia (yet another volunteer, German) sits down at the kitchen table and intervenes: „I didn‘t like Cefalù that much. There are much better beach towns on Sicily.“ But we‘ve already made up our minds, and the other towns she‘s mentioning are not very accessible by public transport.

When I get to the common area the next morning at around 9am, Ian has almost finished preparing his breakfast. I take a quick shower, pack my beach bag and am ready to head to the train station at 9.30am – as agreed last night. But of course, I have to wait another 10 minutes until Ian stumbles out of his dorm. We make it to the close by station with enough time to spare for me to buy my ticket. Just as we arrive at the platform, the train, which is supposed to depart in a few minutes, rolls into the station. We know what that means: we‘re going to be waiting to leave with at least a couple of minutes of delay.

The 1-hour journey from Palermo to Cefalù along the northern coast of Sicily is stunning. To our left passes the ocean, and to our right, it‘s green, rolling hills with few simple houses and small villages. With a good 20-minute delay, Ian and I arrive at the beach town’s station, where Pedro meets us. The two guys have done more research on the place than me, (I basically just know what unimpressed Julia told us), and so I follow their lead. Pedro guides us to the town‘s most remarkable sight, the cathedral. On its splendid Piazza, there are tourists indulging in brunch and Aperol Spritz, while a camera team gets ready to shoot an episode of an Italian drama.

We walk uphill, past the church, and follow an old man‘s directions to a viewpoint. The late spring sun is strong in the south of Italy, and we decide to skip the hike to the top of the cliff towering high above the stone buildings of Cefalù‘s Old Town. Instead, after taking enough pictures and videos of the view, we turn around and walk back down the stairs of the small alley we just came from. We ask the same old man sitting on his porch for the way to the beach. He points to the left, and so we turn towards the sea at the next intersection. A few stairs and turns later, we arrive at the main tourist street running parallel to the harbour. It’s lined with small souvenir shops and restaurants with terraces facing the water. By now, all three of us want to do, is jump into the refreshing waves.

We put down our towels at the first empty spot we find on the beach, and Ian and I are off to the water. Pedro is more responsible and first puts on some sunscreen before joining us for a swim. During the next hours, we take turns watching our bags, swimming and sunbathing. It‘s already afternoon when I wake up from a nap and find Pedro chatting with the girl laying on a blue towel next to us. Ian and I exchange a knowing look and announce that we‘re going to have lunch on the promenade above the beach. The other two are deep in their conversation and say they‘re not hungry yet. So it’s just Ian and me on the quest for some delicious Italian food with vegetarian options. We finally find a place close to the beach which serves Lasagna (for me) and a vegetarian sandwich (for Ian). While looking for a restaurant, we spotted a couple of gelaterias too. So we obviously have to have some ice cream for dessert.

We return to our towels about 1.5h after leaving. Pedro and the girl are gone, but their bags are still there. We finally spot the two standing in hip-deep water, talking avidly. I laugh and go to explore the beach newly exposed by the low tide, while Ian opts for a digestive nap. I walk along the old stone houses built right at the water, climb over a couple of boulders separating one beach from the other and finally have a rest in an alcove next to a restaurant‘s terrace. I watch the people sunbathing, swimming and staggering over the rocks. When I‘ve finally soaked up enough sun, I decide to swim back to the spot where our towels are. While heading west and out into the bay, I enjoy the view of Cefalù‘s Old Town and the lush green hills climbing behind it. I‘ve just spotted smoke rising from what must be a clearing in the woods when I hear a voice behind me.

Ian tried to swim out to a sailing boat anchoring in the bay but didn‘t expect the distance to be that big. When he turned around, he saw me swimming toward the beach and thought it would be funny to startle me. Well, it worked. We swim alongside each other and look out for the 2 lovebirds. We find them back on their towels, still engaged in conversation, now in Portuguese. I take another nap and after head back to the other side of the beach with Ian, to take some photos of the picturesque bay during golden hour. While Ian listens to the band playing at a small restaurant overlooking the harbour, I climb around the rocks behind the city wall. When I get back to the port, we decide this would be a good spot for an Aperitivo during sunset. So we head back to get our bags and see what Pedro and the girl are up to.

As we walk down the steps to the beach, chattering and laughing, I already spot the pair standing hip to hip, facing the ocean in a tight embrace. Ian, lost in his own world, walks up to Pedro and only at the last moment stops and turns around. He looks back at me with his mouth wide open. We sit down on the lower steps of the stairs and Ian tells me he overheard them recite some kind of prayer or mantra. They seem to be deeply touched by their encounter, and we cannot stop to comment on the craziness of this whole situation. Ian thanks me about 10 times for tagging along, otherwise he would have been left alone. When the pair walks up to us with their packed bags, all of us cannot help but to smile from ear to ear. Pedro asks if we want to hike up to the top of the hill for the sunset, but Ian and I politely decline to leave them some privacy.

We stick to our plan and walk back to the terrace at the port to enjoy the live band and treat ourselves to a lovely Aperitivo with a Piña Colada and a beer. As the sun sets, I truly feel at peace and think to myself that this is the best day of my month-long trip through Italy (with my birthday hike to Mt. Etna as a close second). So in the moment, we suddenly discover, that we stayed at the restaurant longer than expected and hurry up the small alleys leading to the train station. We make it just in time for me to buy a ticket. Shortly after, as the train pulls in, Pedro and the Australian girl arrive. She’s staying in Cefalù, so we wave her goodbye and cannot wait for Pedro’s summary of the day on the train ride back to Palermo in the dark.