Added: 04/19/2006 |
Traveling Along Tyrrhenian Coast - Don't Forget to take Pictures!50 miles East of Palermo lies the Tyrrhenian coast - the most favorite place for summer vacations o be spent at. Blessed with a soft and appealing mild climate, bathed in sunshine, architected with style and heart, the Tyrrhenian coast is a must place to visit.
Being an outdoor enthusiast's dream with all the sunny beaches, fairways, local peculiarities and unique Italian cuisine. Add here fantastic accommodations and you'll find a place to stay both comfortable for your budget and style. Its Sicily's Tyrrhenian coast which draws most visitors, attracted by some of the island's most exciting sights - natural and constructed.
The major destination along the Tyrrhenian coast, the former fishing village of Cefalo has grown into one of northern Tyrrhenian coast premier stopovers. You can tour this small town in half a day and spend the rest of your time enjoying wonderful beaches of the Tyrrhenian coast. And there is quite a thing to be indulge in - the Tyrrhenian coast offers a great abundance of beach types- white and yellow sand and pebble ones. As for Cefalo it possesses a great sandy beach with a range of perfect cottages and bars on it. The best beaches lie to the east of the Tyrrhenian coast. They are sandy, clean, and unpolluted, though filled with visitors in July and August.
Anchored between the sea and a craggy limestone promontory, Cefalo is a town of narrow medieval streets, small squares, and historic sights. There is no use of describing beauties of Tyrrhenian coast beaches, as azure waters and soft ground should be experienced by oneself. But what really deserves attention and strikes visitors of the Tyrrhenian coast is a perfect combination of nature and ancient architecture. Cefalo is blessed with a Romanesque cathedral and a museum that houses Antonello da Messina's masterpiece Portrait of an Unknown Man.
Founded in the 9th century B.C. this also the oldest town on the whole Tyrrhenian coast. By the 5th century B.C., it had become the fortified western outpost of Imperia and the Byzantine era saw the capital of the Tyrrhenian coast thriving as the seat of a Greek bishop. The Tyrrhenian coast also contains some of north Sicily's more impressive ruins, including those at Himera (near Termini Imerese) and at Tyndaris, west of Milazzo.
For those who want to cut inland of the Tyrrhenian coast to view a national park, we suggest you set aside a day to explore Parco Naturale Regionale delle Madonie, one of Sicily's most important nature reserves.
Of course, the Tyrrhenian coast is not restricted by the city of Cefalo for example, Taormina, most chic of the island's resorts and famed for its remarkable Graeco-Roman theatre. The city is an hour's train ride south of the Tyrrhenian coast, and lava-built Catania, Sicily's second city, is another hour beyond. In fact, both places (indeed the whole of this part of the Tyrrhenian coast) are dominated by the massive presence of Mount Etna, Europe's highest volcano.
A road and a narrow-gauge, single-track railway passes through a series of hardy towns surrounded by swirls of black rock spat from the volcano. Further south, out of the leed of Etna, lay traces of the ancient Greek cities that once lined the southeastern Ionian coast.
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