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.