Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

Traveling Mailbox

Retire Early Lifestyle Blog 

Free Newsletter Subscribe/Contact

Advertise on RetireEarlyLifestyle.com info here

RetireEarlyLifestyle Logo

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

La Casa di Anita, Cefalu, Sicily

(Pronounced: Shef-ahh-LOO)

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

Currency Converter

It was an adventurous night trying to find a hotel in booked-up Palermo, and eventually we stayed in the stunning Hotel Bellevue on the coast.

With the incredibly challenging evening before, we deserved that luxury.

It was only 5 hours of sleep before getting up the next morning, and after a marvelous breakfast, a driver from the hotel took us directly to the train station in Palermo. Here we purchased First Class tickets on TrenItalia to Cefalu, our next stop.

Map showing Cefalu on the island of Sicily

Map of Sicily

This map of Sicily shows you the relatively short distance we are to travel this morning, just 59 kilometers.

It's early and we get the first train we are able.

Older couple on a train, Palermo, Sicily

On the train from Palermo to Cefalu

WooHoo!! We're going to Cefalu!

In this case, we are happy to be leaving Palermo behind and looking forward to our stay on the coast.

Beautiful weather, fine food, some hiking, and an international beach crowd awaits us.

We are ready!

Modern train in Sicily

Modern, clean train

We have found the trains in Italy and Sicily to be modern, clean, and remarkably (95%) on time.

Relaxing just a bit, we sit back and enjoy our ride.

trainitalia ticket Palermo to Cefalu, Sicily

Trenitalia First Class ticket

Our First Class tickets cost us $11.50Euro each, about $12.50USD.

Excellent.

As we arrive in Cefalu station, a man helps me off the train's steep step and takes my luggage. Having spent so much time in Matera hiking up and down the hills and slippery stone steps to see The Stassi, I am so grateful for the assistance.

My knees thanked him too.

We walk a short distance from the station - again down lots of steps – and get to our apartment where we will be staying for 7 nights.

The apartment is gorgeous.

Bedroom in Cefalu apartment, Sicily

The Master Bedroom

We are located right in the center of town, and the apartment has 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a bottle of wine is waiting for us on the dining room table.

This is more like it!

 

 

 

 

dining room, living room, in Cefalu apartment, Sicily

Dining room, living room with kitchen off to the right

The sunlight is streaming in through sheer embroidered curtains, and the dining table and chairs are a cheery orange-red.

There's a huge refrigerator with freezer, ice cubes are made and bottled water is inside.

We’re pretty tired from the unexpected happenings of the night before, but we decide to go out food shopping and set our place up.

Second bedroom in Cefalu apartment, Sicily

Second bedroom

This is the second bedroom with cleaning supplies in the closet to the left.

Outside the photo is a desk and chair.

We take the short walk from our apartment to get to the grocery store and figure we'll just regroup back here at the apartment and  relax.

Kitchen in Cefalu apartment, Sicily

Lovely big kitchen

Microwave, kitchen flat top electric stove, emergency numbers on the pantry wall to the left. A double sink, the wine bottle and 2 wine glasses ready for us when we want to celebrate.

We are a bit discombobulated from lack of sleep and it's our first day in a new town.

Coming home from the grocery, we get to where we think our front door is located… and I can’t seem to get the key to work.

Billy says “let me try” and proceeds to have the key break off in the lock!!!

We’re in disbelief again.

Are you kidding me? 

This kind of stuff generally doesn't happen to us and I just start to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

You know... What is going on here?

View from Cefalu apartment, Sicily

View from apartment

This is the view from our apartment, with the Rocca di Cefalu to the right.

We are standing outside this building and right when Billy is WhatsApp-ing the owner to let her know we have a problem with the key and can't get into the apartment, a young woman named Maria from the inside opens the door and lets us in.

We tell her our situation and say that we are staying at Casa Anita. The owner is coming to meet us in 5 minutes.

We go up a couple of flights of stairs…. And nothing looks familiar.

It's similar... but this isn't the place... We're not in the right apartment building!!!

Oh no!!!

bathroom in Cefalu apartment, Sicily

Bathroom

We had a bidet, a toilet, plenty of hot water in a tub/shower with a shower curtain.

We let ourselves out of "the wrong apartment building" and walk down a few more doors where we actually find "Casa Anita" listed on the outside.

None of our keys work the front door.

Ah Jeeze!

At exactly that moment someone comes and opens the door from the outside and asks if we are needing to get in.

We say yes, but our key has broken off and I show her the pieces of the broken key.

bathroom in Cefalu apartment, Sicily

Bathroom looking out into the hallway

The view of the bathroom looking the other way, towards the 2nd bedroom.

I say the landlady is coming in 5 minutes to give us another key and I mention "Casa Anita" and she recognizes it.

That's a good sign for all of us.

 

 

 

 

the dining/living room looking into the Master bedroom, Cefalu apartment, Sicily

The dining room/ living room looking into the Master Bedroom

So we get into the apartment building and up the 50 stairs into the apartment itself.

Mariella, the landlady, and her son come over and - while not mentioning we had the wrong building to begin with - we tell her the whole story about the key and how it broke and...

Well, sort of..

Microwave oven, bottle of wine in kitchen apartment in Cefalu, Sicily

That wine is looking pretty good right about now...

Mariella and her son exchange their key with ours and personally take me through all the doors, and all the keys.

This is your apartment front door.

This door in the hallway is always open. Don't ever close this door.

In fact, here. Let me take your key in case you forget and you lock this door by mistake.

Then we walk back down 50 stairs to the front door.

living/dining room looking into the kitchen, Cefalu apartment, Sicily

From the other side of the living/dining room into the kitchen

I'm going to show you how to open the front door, she says.

Think of a medieval building.

Think of a solid wooden door that is twice the height of a normal person, and most likely weighs 300 pounds.

Maybe more.

Yeah. It's probably solid stone and not wood at all.

She gently slides her key into the lock from the outside while using the full brute force of her whole body to turn they key

and - PUUUUSH - to open it.

See? It's easy.

Ok, got it.

Thanks, Mariella.

I think to myself "Maybe I'll never have to leave. Maybe I'll never have to open this door again. Maybe Billy can simply bring food up to me in the room, and I can look out the window at the lovely view."

Maybe...

But of course none of that is true.

I'm just tired.

Information about La Casa di Anita

Would we recommend this apartment to stay while in Cefalu?

Of course!

Perfectly located, very clean, spacious and bright.

Assistance was quick when we needed it, and Cefalu's beach, restaurants, castle and hiking are worth seeing, no doubt.

 

For more stories, photos and videos of Italy, click here for Sicily, click here

For more on Retirement Topics, click here and here and don't forget to signup for our free Newsletter.

 

Visit our book Store

About the Authors

 
Billy and Akaisha Kaderli are recognized retirement experts and internationally published authors on topics of finance, medical tourism and world travel. With the wealth of information they share on their award winning website RetireEarlyLifestyle.com, they have been helping people achieve their own retirement dreams since 1991. They wrote the popular books, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement and Your Retirement Dream IS Possible available on their website bookstore or on Amazon.com.

 

contact Billy and Akaisha at theguide@retireearlylifestyle.com

advertise contact ad-info@retireearlylifestyle.com

Your financial independence and travel starts here

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

HOME   Book Store

 

Retire Early Lifestyle Blog      About Billy & Akaisha Kaderli      Press     Contact     20 Questions     Preferred Links    

Retirement     Country Info     Retiree Interviews      Commentary     REL Videos

 

 

 

 
Subscribe Newsletter