Divine intervention: Rooming with the Sisters

Last winter I had the brilliant idea of not just visiting Sicily but enrolling in an Italian course (to give us a real reason to go) and I organized everything, accommodation included, months in advance.


Come June, on our first day at the Italian course in Cefalu, we were asked to describe our personality. Without thinking I blurted out "bisogno di tutto sotto controllo" which should (but may not) translate to "needing everything under control."


Ok, so now you know a little more about me. Imagine my horror then when we find out that we had nowhere to stay for the last few days of the course.


First some context: We spent the first few days in a rented apartment and then were meant to move to a small boutique hotel for the last couple of days. Our Italian host called the day prior to switching accommodation to check on whether there was a way to drop off luggage. (You can infer that our Italian did not reach fluency in the week's course!) This is how we discovered that our reservation had been 'lost'. And yes, this despite email verification. Then they claimed that they had a hot water problem and nothing was possible. 


So panic ensued with calls to all local hotels which were, predictably, all fully booked. But not to worry, there was one room left in town. At this stage we couldn't be picky and well, a rooming house run by 90 year old nuns sounded positively divine.

The 11pm curfew didn't matter much as the hosts were in bed by 9pm and the location was incredible. 

This photo is from our room! Would we return? Sure, in ten years time when it will no doubt be converted into a boutique hotel which will no doubt "lose" our reservation...