Today was Castle Day!

The Castle is on the Rock, la Rocca, which tops out at 270 metres above sea level, and towers over the town.

It was probably the Normans who first built a castle on Cefalu's Rock, around 1063. The fortifications we see now probably date back to the 12th century.

Yes, it's the Normans again. They also did the cathedral, although they never quite finished that.

And yes, it's the same Normans as in 1066 and all that. They were originally Scandinavian warriors, who settled in (what is now) northern France around 900. Over the course of the 11th and 12th centuries, they conquered southern Italy and Sicily.

There's a bit more context here: "Sicily fell under Byzantine or Islamic control at various times during the earlier Middle Ages. This made the area culturally rich but politically ripe for the taking. Originally arriving in the area from France as mercenary soldiers for the various powers fighting over this territory, the Normans effectively ruled Sicily by 1091 CE. They were led by two brothers from a minor branch of the Norman aristocracy. The older brother, Robert, claimed former Lombard territories on the southern Italian peninsula, including Apulia and Calabria, while younger brother Roger ruler Sicily. Roger I’s son, Roger II (r. 1130-1154) [he of Cefalu's cathedral, remember] became the first Norman King of Sicily, ruling over both island and mainland domains from his island capital at Palermo."

Nothing lasts, of course, and in 1194, the Normans were pushed out by the Hohenstaufen dynasty, from southern Germany, and soon afterwards, Sicily became part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Anyway, Cefalu Castle, as is normal for these places, went through its ups and downs. It was renovated, then destroyed by fire at the end of the 13th century; extensively reconstructed during the 16th and 17th centuries; and abandoned in the 19th century...

But it all makes for a cracking walk. Note that you can't get in until 0800 (so our earlier start this morning availed us nothing), and it costs EUR 5 per person.

You go unremittingly UP from the get-go; the views get better and better all the time; and there's something about ruined castles that brings out your inner child, and makes you want to go scampering off into all the nooks and crannies.















There are also much older structures on the site. The Temple of Diana, for example, which may not be a temple, and may not have anything to do with Diana. Much of it was erected in the 5th century BCE:









Once back down in the town, we checked out Sicily's famous granita (shaved ice, but without all the bits and bobs that characterize our Malaysian ABC):



We went home for lunch out on our little front balcony (the lunch spot of choice these days).

And later, from the big back balcony, we were able to snap a very pretty evening: