Part two of our mini-vacation-within-a-vacation started slightly earlier than we expected. Although Jen and I got the prime bedroom — its windows opened onto a courtyard rather than the street, so it was presumed to be quieter. The courtyard, however, seems to be home to a rooster, who crowed at about 5 am. We managed to get back to sleep a bit, but there was some pressure this morning to get up and out early. Our checkout time was 10 am, and there were still things in Palermo that we wanted to see.

Palermo does not seem to be a place that would feature livestock in its courtyards. It very metropolitan, with many wide streets and sidewalks, and lots of traffic and bustle. Our accommodations were a block from the central train station, and there is an electric trolley that zips past our door. (Unexpectedly, there are small trains of the type that might chug around amusement parks — we have seen several of these here, only these wind right down the traffic lanes, presumably giving tourists a close up view of local commuters.)

Of course, Palermo has its share of narrow, cobblestone streets. Some are officially dedicated to pedestrian traffic, which appreciably cuts down on the number of cars trying to navigate among the walkers. Others are traditional Italian “yield to whomever blinks last” byways.

And then there are the streets that we looked for this morning — those lined with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, all manner of sea creatures, lots of spices and kitchen accessories. The Palermo food markets foiled us yesterday by closing down at 3 pm. We had planned to visit these markets for our street food dinner crawl last night, but everyone had already packed up shop. We ended up doing alright, of course, but we did want to walk through to get their flavor.

Then it was time to pack up the dogs and head out of town and up the coast. Cefalu is a beach community that shares a lot in appearance and atmosphere with the Cinque Terre villages we visisted last April. It is a little bigger, and less picturesqe than any of those towns, but it is much more accessible.

We had a fine afternoon exploring with the dogs in tow. We ate lunch in an alleyway just off the main square, then worked our way down to the shore where a stretch of sandy beach started where the city blocks ended. It was protected by a sturdy rock jetty that we could walk out on. From its furthest point, Jen took a 360-degree panoramic video of the town, beach, distant hill, and blue-green sea.

It seemed too difficult of a prospect to not stop for gelato on our way back up, though a different set of cobblestone walkways than the ones that had brought us down to the water.

We motored back to Mussomeli and got ourselves psyched for this evening’s challenge: navigating a Sicilian restaurant without Chris and Wendy.(Our Sicilian super-hosts were double booked for tonight and obliged to attend a friend’s going away party.) Our adventure veered toward disaster when the wait staff had trouble comprenending our request for a small aperitivo plate to open our meal. They solved the problem by bringing us two large aperitivo plates. The crisis was averted when I ate just about every small sandwich and french fry within reach. We all then were able to bring the primi pasta plates that we had planned to eat after just a sampling of aperitivo. It ended on a high note when the restaurant’s owner — like most people here, a friend of Chris and Wendy — saluted us with a round of a limoncello-like liquor called Aqua de Cedri.

Last year when we were in Florence visiting Nadia, Bob talked at some length about the crazy traffic patterns. Well, Sicily takes that same attitude and turns it up to eleven.

To start with, Sicily is an extremely hilly place. Looking out across portions of the landscape, you find it hard to imagine that roads can get through it at all. Those that manage it are steep, curvy, and narrow (though, to give Sicicly their due, in remarkably good condition). Then you get into a city, and realize that you didn’t understand the true meaning of the word “narrow”. If a street seems reasonably wide when empty, there will be cars parked on both sides. If you think a street is surely one-way due to its narrowness, you are likely wrong. If you think you are surely on a footpath, where you can stretch out your arms and practically touch the buildings on either side, it won’t be long before a car zooms around the corner. And if you are on a pedestrian alley with crowds of people, vendor stalls, and restaurants lining either side, then you will soon encounter a motorcycle.

Chris is the real hero here, as our chauffeur throughout this trip. He and Wendy usually drive a little Mini Cooper, but for our visit they rented a six-person minivan so we could all travel together. (This is a good thing — if one of the four of us had to drive, we’d likely still be stuck at the airport, unable to merge.) Just driving to their parking area in this larger car had us all holding our breath as we passed though alleys and around blind turns with approximately an inch to spare on either side.

All six of us in the car is a little tight, but workable. (Wendy, fortunately not prone to car sickness, has nobly been taking the back seat.) So today we decided to really amp up the difficulty level and add Pippa and Arlo, their two Newfoundlands. (For those who have not met Pippa and Arlo, that is about 270 combined pounds of dog.) We were headed for an overnight trip-within-a-trip to Palermo and the coastal city of Cefalu. Luckily the dogs are very patient and calm, but Wendy’s seat in the back became considerably more challenging. In the end we managed to fit ourselves, the dogs, and all our overnight supplies into the car.

Against all odds, the car also made it up the steep incline out of town, and over the mountain ridges on the way to the coast. Palermo represented its own driving challenges. One of the main roads into town didn’t have lanes, and it was hard to predict at any given time how many cars would attempt to get abreast of each other. I think we counted five at one point. But in the end we made it into the town center, which featured a lovely series of pedestrian-ish streets (featuring the occasional car, van, or motorcycle). We strolled around and took endless photos of picturesque alleyways, cobblestones underfoot and laundry hanging above. We caught some glimpses of the blue-green sea. We met lots of locals, given that Pippa and Arlo attract a lot of attention.

Eventually we were able to check in to our airbnb, a lovely spacious apartment in a cool walkable neighborhood. Then, minus the dogs, we headed out again to sample some of the culinary delights of the city. We were seeking out a few things that this area is particularly known for –firstly, drinks and apertivo at a lovely cocktail bar. We then sought out something called “mangia e beve” (oddly, “food and drink”) that consists of green onions wrapped in bacon. We didn’t quite have room left for arancini, but made sure to have some of the famous cannoli, which come in many varieties of shells and fillings. (Sicily claims to have invented the cannoli. The place we bought them from had “since 1024” on their business sign, which seems to be a bit of a stretch.)

The streets were lined with tables set out by the local restaurants, and packed with festive crowds enjoying food and drink. On our way back home on one of these streets, despite having already had our dessert, Chris was reeled in by a delicious burger smell so we all ended up having a late-night snack. It’s going to be hard for us to adjust to eating like normal people again once we return from this trip.