Cefalu, Sicily

Our camping luck seemed to be with us. We found a fantastic beachside campground on the outskirts of town as we drove in from the south coast. It had tent spaces in a terrace arrangement that gave us stunning water views with a small walk to the pebble beach below. Highly regarded for its beach and historical centre, Cefalù had a stunning old town and waterfront and the most tourists we’d seen all trip so far. We made it into the centre for a beautiful sunset and another pizza for dinner (despite intently looking for a pasta to break the habit)

The next day we cruised the coast eastward hoping to find another chance for a beach chill day. By now we had completely realised that we were out of season. Apart from Cefalu and Palermo, we found most places to be near deserted. Outside of these areas, almost every village had many of their restaurants and bars closed. The difference between the high and low season is almost as stark as on and off. With our camp gear limited to basically the tent and our sleeping bags, we couldn’t really cook. So dinners had been reliant on finding a restaurant actually open. Our focus for the day had turned to getting closer to Mt Etna and finding a campground open.

After two failed attempts, we found a campground open along the coast. There, we encountered an Australian lady living in Sicily for 20 years. During our conversation about our trip plans, I mentioned our intention to hike to the summit of Mt Etna. I expressed my hope to witness volcanic activity during our stay. She casually mentioned the nearby volcano island of Stromboli had been especially active just this month 😮. With seeing an erupting volcano second on my bucket list behind seeing the northern lights, we set about looking into how to get there. We had already committed to heading to Mt Etna for a winery tour the next day but the planning cogs were in motion.Read more