Day 15 - Last Day in Sicily

Duomo (Cathedral) at Monreale

Today was our last day in Sicily and there wasn't much left on the itinerary. In fact, the only things left were the Cathedral at Monreale and some shopping in Palermo later. Hard to believe things are coming to an end, but that's the way every trips seems to end.

We had one more "adventure" in the morning and that was to mail a key back to the hotel I had accidently taken it from. The adventure part was the Italian Post Office. First, the Post Office system does much, much more than mail and I'm pretty sure I was the only one actually mailing something as I didn't see any packages. I don't have a clue what everyone else was doing but it certainly took a long time. Half of the office seemed to operate like a bank and I saw one woman get maybe a thousand in Euros. I was in the postal side's line for nearly an hour before it was my turn. Everyone else seemed to be filing some kind of paperwork. Fortunately the clerk took pity on me and filled out the envelope for me and we were on our way again.

Mosaic Interior of the Cathedral

After the post office, we drove to the cathedral. It is located on the outskirts of Palermo and was 90 minutes by bus if you knew the right schedule and right stops. The car seemed infinitely easier and safer even though it meant driving through crazy traffic again. It was about the same a driving through New York City traffic except that motorcycles everywhere complicate things.

The cathedral was started in 1174 by William II of Sicily and built in the Norman style. The interior, like most of the old churches is done in mosaics in the Byzantine style. Very beautiful.

Palermo

One last picture and that is a shot of Palermo taken from Monreale, the city down below in the distance. It was sunny on the day we arrived and mostly sunny today but the other three days we were in Palermo all had some amount of rain so we now have it in our minds that it always rains on Greek Temples and in Palermo!

Day 14 - Erice and a Night at the Opera

Duomo in Erice

We started our day with a tour of Erice. Erice is an ancient town founded by the Phoenicians before the Greeks arrived, It sits on a mountain top very high above the city of Trapani. To reach it, we drove through Trapani and parked at the base of the mountain and took a cable car to the top. There are only about 1000 people living in Erice but they are served by 10 or more churches, the most beautiful is the Duomo (cathedral) of Erice. The cathedral isn't much to look at from the outside but the inside is elaborately decorated. Today was Sunday morning but we were in town before mass started so we were able to look around.

Streets in Erice

The streets in Erice are more like alleys and you just kind of meander through the maze. It is a very touristy town and there are lots of cute shops and places to eat. We stopped in a small place and had tea, cappuccino and a canolo. I'm using the singular in Italian here as we only had one, but it was so big that we split it.

Castello di Venere (Castle of Venus)

There is a castle there dating back to Norman times called the Castle of Venus because it was built on top of an earlier temple dedicated to Venus. It has a great view of the valley below and the sea to the north.

From Erice we drove back to Palermo which was about a two-hour drive, back to the Ibis Style Hotel were we started our trip. Two more nights and we head back home.

We went to a performance of Rigoletto at the Teatro Massimo tonight which was fantastic. Of all the things we have done on this trip, the trip to the opera was probably the best. The singers were really good and of course it ends tragically as do most operas. Poor Gilda! Rigoletto is a work by Giuseppe Verdi first performed in 1851. This particular performance was organized by John Turturro (the Italian-American actor) and he was there to take a bow. It was the second night of its run and the opera was very well received.

We shared a box with 4 other Italian women and we chatted with them quite a bit. They were very accommodating with us as we were all on a bit of an angle to the stage and you have to move your individual chairs around so everyone can see.

Day 13 - Marsala, Segesta and Trapani

We left our hotel this morning and headed to a tour of the Cantine Florio two hours away in Marsala. Cantine Florio is one of oldest wineries in Sicily (1833) and is known for its production of Marsala wine, all in the same winery located right by the sea. We had what turned out to be a private tour (only the two of us signed up for the tour in English) and we learned a lot. The basis for Marsala is the Grillo grape, which is grown in this area, and the Grillo wine is then fortified and aged for a minimum period of time depending on the type of Marsala. There is no maximum time as Marsala never goes bad. We tasted four types of wine and considering it was 10 am, they were all really good. They ranged from an aperitif, to two table wines and finally to a dessert Marsala.

Goad Herd with the Right of Way

From Marsala we drove out to Salemi via SS188 through the wine country of this part of Sicily. This part of Sicily in many ways is the old Sicily of a hundreds of years ago. There are vineyards as far as you can see, interspersed with groves of olive trees and ancient farmhouses.  We saw one very old man, with his car parked by the road, hand-picking olives and putting them in a cloth bag he had around his neck. We hoped that those were his olive tree! Of course we had to stop to let a goat herd pass by at one point, complete with a shepherd and three herding dogs. This is not to say that there aren't signs for modern civilization as we also passed about a hundred windmills generating electric power.

Temple at Segesta

From Salemi we went northward to Segesta which is close by. Segesta was a minor Greek city when the Greeks occupied Sicily. The temple dates back to 420 BCE but was apparently never completed. There is also a very nice amphitheater on the hill above the temple.

As has been our luck with visiting Greek ruins, the skies became cloudy and it began to rain just as we got back to our car.

Our final stop today was at the Salt Museum just outside of Trapani and within walking distance of our hotel. This area is all "saline" or salt pans for miles around and salt has been harvested from sea water here for thousands of years and is still done today. What was done in the past by a large team of people doing manual labor is now done by 10 people. Salt was so important during the Roman period that people were paid in salt and that is the derivation of our word "salary."

I can't show the operation in a single picture but there are five salt ponds (called pans) used in the operation with the last pan the one where the salt is harvested from. As you can see in the picture that windmills were used to pump water between pans and also to grind the salt into a finer consistency. Today electric pumps and other machinery have streamlined the operation.

Tonight we ate at the restaurant now located inside the mill. Jeanne had pasta and I had fish served with couscous. Couscous is popular in the area around Trapani where the Arab influence is still heavy in the food of the region.

Day 12 - Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples

Temple of Concordia

Today started out overcast with rain in the forecast but it was our day to see the Greek ruins called Valley of the Temples so we headed out with our rain gear. There are seven temples located there, in various states of ruin, the oldest dating back to the 5th century BCE. The Temple of Concordia is one of the best preserved Greek structures anywhere in the world.

Temple of Heracles

The Temple of Heracles is less well preserved but it still has one wall of columns standing. The name "valley" is a bit of a misnomer as the temples are located on a ridge far below the town of Agrigento but high above the coastline which is about 2 km to the west. It drizzled on us the whole time we were there but nothing serious, although we could hear thunder in the distance.

We drove into the town of Porto Empedocle for something to eat for lunch on the way back to  our hotel. While we were there, the owner heard that we are Americans and he came out and we chatted away in Italian for a long while. He told me that families of Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Cage, Robert De Niro and Frank Sinatra are all from Agrigento. I have no idea if it is true or not but it is a good story. I told him we are fans of Montalbano and showed him the pictures we took of his house in Punta Secca and the set in Scicli and he loved them. The author of the Montalbano books is from Porto Empedocle and he told me the house where was born is right by the church (a block away). He asked if we had been to Memphis and I said yes. He is a big fan of Elvis and pretty soon he, Jeanne and I were singing Elvis songs. He had a good voice and we really belted them out. We closed with "My Way" by Sinatra and neither of us remembered many of the words but that didn't stop us. At the end we all kissed Italian style (he, his wife, Jeanne and I) and we headed back to our car in a downpour. It is strange how the smallest of experiences can become some of the best memories.

Day 11 - Villa Romana del Casale

Landscape in the interior of Sicily

Today we said goodbye to Punta Secca and started making our way northward up the western coast of Sicily. As we drove along the coast to Gela, we saw mile after mile of the countryside totally covered with plastic greenhouses where they grow the tomatoes and other vegetables that Italy is known for all on a year round basis. At Gela we headed inland and toward Piazza Armerina on our way to see Villa Romana del Casale. The land there immediately turns more hilly and arid and you occasionally saw a prickly pear farm or two, but not much agriculture otherwise.

Room of the Ten Maidens

Our first stop was at an ancient Roman villa (Villa Romana del Casale) which dates back to the 4th century AD. In the 12th century it was covered by a landslide and was only rediscovered in the 1920s and excavation work still continues today. It is most famous for its floor tile mosaics and quite fortunate that the landslide covered it for centuries keeping it well preserved. Many of the rooms are elaborately decorated with these tiles depicting scenes about the hunting and capturing of exotic animals in Africa and Asia and their shipment back to Rome. One of the most popular rooms is the "Bikini Mosaic" room showing girls doing sports such as weight lifting, running, discus and throwing a ball. The girl in the toga in the lower left is giving a crown and a palm to the winner. Unfortunately when we were there the place was overpopulated by tour groups which really detracted from the experience.

Scale dei Turci

From Piazza Armerina, we drove to our hotel just outside of Agrigento in Realmonte. All in all we drove about 3 hours today.

The hotel is located right above the Turkish Steps (Scale dei Turci) where allegedly Turkish raiders once climbed up to invade the town. It is actually a unique calcium formation called Marl which I believe is similar to the "White Cliffs of Dover."

Dinner was an interesting experience. We drove up in the hills to go to an Osteria in Realmonte where we waited with some others until someone called and found it was closed for some unknown reason. A group of older men suggested we try Volpe. We went where they told us but the restaurant was named Eclisse. We ate there anyway and had a very nice meal  (spaghetti for Jeanne and veal for me) at at least half of the price we had been paying elsewhere. They were super friendly and even they gave us a nice appetizer of panelle, bruschetta and olives. The owner stopped by and we chatted in Italian about America and his trip from New York to Miami on a Harley. Turns out the owner's name is Volpe and the townspeople just refer to the place by his name. That was small town Italy at its best.

Day 10 - Baroque Italy

Ragusa

If you go to almost any town of significant size in southern Sicily, you will notice that they all have a similar appearance. That's because there was a major earthquake in 1693 which leveled most towns and when they were rebuilt, they were all built in the architecture in fashion at the time which was Baroque. This is especially true of the three major towns in southwestern Sicily - Noto, Modica and Ragusa but also smaller towns like Scicli.

Today we drove to Scicli and Ragusa to see the architecture but also to follow the trail of Montalbano. It is hard to underestimate the impact that the show has had on the local economy as most of the tourists who come to this corner of Sicily have come to see to see the sights that were popularized by the show. As proof in point, while we were having breakfast on the B&B balcony, a tour bus stopped by and maybe 50 people stopped and took our photographs. I felt like I should signed some autographs.

Montalbano's Police Station in Scicli

Many of the filmed scenes talk place in Scicli which is used as the fictional town of Vigata where the series is set and were the police station is located. The building in reality is the town hall of Scicli and they offer a Montalbano tour which we took. I didn't think there would be much to see but fortunately for us they had just finished filming an episode and they still had the set on site. We were able to walk through the set (mostly behind glass) but they let us have our pictures taken behind the desk where the TV inspector does his work.

The tour was a lot of fun for me because I was able to joke around with the tour guide who spoke some English so I promised to correct his English if he corrected my Italian. I'm a curiosity here because I speak just enough Italian to converse with people and they always want to know where I'm from, were my parents from Italy, where did I learn to speak, etc. (and probably why I don't speak better but are too polite to say it).

Train with Church of Saint George in the background

After Scicli, we drove to Ragusa Ibla for a walk through town. Ibla is the older section of town. The newer part of Ragusa was built upon the hill overlooking Ibla but today they have grown together to form one contiguous town. There is a beautiful Baroque church (Il Duomo di San Giorgio) located on the main piazza but it was unfortunately closed when we were there. We took the "Barocco" train for a tour around the city. We would have liked to have had just a little bit more time in town but the rain started just as we were headed back to our car so that ended the tour.

Montalbano's desk

As we're waiting for dinner time here, I'll add a few observations. This part seems more of what I think of as "Sicilian" than the other areas we have been to. Maybe it's because it is more isolated. The people are darker in complexion and they greet you with a "Salve" instead of a "Buon giorno" as you hear in the rest of Italy. The landscape seems more ancient as it is very rocky and you see miles of fences constructed with rocks simply laid on top of each other.

For dinner we walked to a restaurant near our B&B called Enzo al Mare, which of course is seen on the Montalbano series as his favorite restaurant. I had the Orata (Sea Bream) and Jeanne wasn't interested in seafood so she had Insalata Caprese and grilled vegetables.

Montalbano?

Finally, I'll include a photo for the people that I know who are familiar with Montalbano.

Day 9 - Riviera dei Ciclopi and Punta Secca

Riviera dei Ciclopi

Today we left the Hilton and shifted from the east coast of Sicily to the West. Sounds like a long drive but it was only 3 hours including a side trip to see the Riviera dei Ciclopi (Cyclops Coast). Of course the name is purely to lure tourists, but I'll pass on the story. The name comes from the Homeric legend according to which the towering black rocks that rise out of the sea – actually great hunks of solidified lava – were thrown by the blinded Cyclops, Polyphemus, in a desperate attempt to stop Odysseus from escaping. Maybe. Interesting but I'm not sure a long drive to see them would be worth it.

Montalbano's House

We are in Punta Secca to see and stay at the House of Montalbano. Montalbano is a policeman in an Italian TV crime series that dates back almost 20 years and his house, now a B&B, is featured in the film. The show is hugely popular in Italy and Europe but not in the US. With my Italian class, I have seen almost every episode and likewise the other people staying here are here for the same reason. In fact I had a long discussion with a British couple on the balcony about the show and the world in general. The wife was a big fan and they were here 4 days and are coming back next year. The world discussions are always interesting but I'm a bit getting tired of apologizing for Trump.

Beach at Sunset (from our balcony)

We had some quality beach time although it is getting near the end of the season and the water is a bit cool. Really probably like New Jersey beaches at the best of times, but still a bit cool for us. Best beach I've been to in Italy as many of them are rocky, but this was a flat sand beach and you could walk out 50 meters before it went over your head.

For dinner we drove to the Ristorante Agrituristico Rosacambra, which was recommended to us. I think that agrituristico kind of means farm-to-table but much more like eating with a large family. It was fixed price and you eat what they have cooked for the day. 6 appetizers, 2 pasta courses, 2 main courses, dessert, fruit, wine, water, coffee and limoncello. All for the ridiculously low price of 22 EUR each. We were totally stuffed and still they insisted on sending some of the leftovers home with us.

Day 8 - A Day for Relaxing

Naxos Beach

There were only a couple of minor things on the agenda for today and one was to correct a mistake from earlier. When we had planned our earlier visit to Taormina, I thought the Greek Amphitheater was open until dark but in fact it stopped admissions at 5:30 so we couldn't get in on our first try. No problem. We just went back to Taormina in the morning, this time for a more leisurely visit.

In the first photo you can see the beach here at Naxos looking up at Taormina (town in the middle level) and Castelmola (small town on the summit to the left). From our hotel it is only about a 20 minute drive to Taormina.

Teatro antico di Taormina

The amphitheater is really spectacular with its views overlooking the Ionian sea far down below. You might wonder why such an impressive structure is located here? The reason is that Naxos was the first Greek settlement in Sicily (735 BCE) and the main city (now called Taormina) was built on a high point of land for protection from invaders. It was a thriving city and the theater can accommodate about 5500 spectators and is still used today, but only in the summer. Of course over the centuries the city was conquered by Romans and many others but the amphitheater and baths still remain.

Full Sicilian Relax Mode

Jeanne and I picked up our laundry in town and went back to the hotel for some pool time and relaxation before we check out tomorrow and head to the west coast of Sicily. I'd like to say we use local laundries to support the local economy, but the fact is that Hiltons charge a fortune and the local placed only charged us 20 EUR for about a weeks worth of clothes. It also gave me the chance to speak to some older ladies who clearly spoke no English. So when I picked it up they asked if I was the guy with the underwear. They apparently don't get much underwear to wash!

We ate dinner right across the street from the hotel. I had a grilled seafood combo (swordfish, shrimp, mussels and calamari) and Jeanne had spaghetti with cherry tomatoes with cubes of mozzarella. We both had dessert (Tiramisu). We continue to be amazed at the quality of the food and how inexpensive it is.

Day 7 - Siracusa

Mount Etna without Clouds

Another bright, beautiful, sunny day and we headed down to Siracusa for a day trip. It was a pretty easy 90 minute drive and there were no mountain roads and almost all autostrada! As we left Giardini-Naxos, we got a great view of Mt. Etna, this time without the peak being covered with clouds and you can clearly see the smoke (or maybe steam) coming out. Etna is a pretty active volcano with eruptions every couple of years with the last one in March of last year.

Greek Amphitheater in Siracusa

I think I need to explain some Siracusa history to better point out its significance. Siracusa is one of the oldest Greek cities in Sicily and the most powerful, rivaling Athens when it was at its peak. Its most famous citizen was Archimedes who was the top mathematician of the ancient world, the first one to approximate pi, but probably most famous for shouting "Eureka" after discovering the principle of displacement in his bathtub. He was killed in 212 BCE when the Romans conquered the city.

We parked just outside the oldest part of the city, the isle of Ortigia, because it is closed to traffic on the weekends (supposedly closed but there was still traffic). We then rode the Siracusa Hop-on Hop-off bus to get to most of our destinations.

We spent the first part of the day touring Greek sites including the large amphitheater and the Ear of Dionysus. The Ear of Dionysus is a natural cave with amazing acoustics. Even a small noise echoes loudly in the cave.

Charlemagne (r) with Two Knights

After that we rode back to Ortigia for touring and a puppet show. Today is my birthday and the puppet show was my choice. The puppets (similar to marionettes but with only three strings) are three feet tall and reenact scenes from the tales of Orlando, which is a medieval story about knights in Charlemagne's court. Of course there are sword fights galore, including one where a soldier gets decapitated. Not sure how they did that, but they did. Not exactly what I would call "kid appropriate" in modern times but it seems to work. We both enjoyed it immensely.

Procession in Traditional Dress into Church

Cathedral of Siracusa

The following are a couple of random shots.

I'll just close by saying we had another nice dinner near the hotel to celebrate my birthday. I had Orata (Sea Bream, best fish so far) and Jeanne had Spaghetti Carbonara again (best one so far). Birthday cake to be followed when we get home because that is something that doesn't exist here.

Ortigia Shoreline

Day 6 - Mt. Etna and Wine Country

Funicular at Mt. Etna Going Into the Clouds

Today was a bright sunny day after four straight overcast ones. I thought I would start by describing the typical Italian breakfasts we have been having. Everything centers on coffee. I usually have a latte macchiato (hot milk with espresso) and Jeanne has her tea, but there are many other options. There are always eggs (scrambled but most frequently hard boiled) and a selection of ham, salami, cheese and bread, brioche, etc. There is also a wide selection of sweets including cannoli, chocolate torts, every kind of cookie imaginable. Sometimes we have seen small sicilian pears, prickly pear, nuts, and even cassatina (a green colored dessert filled with sweet ricotta). Today at the Hilton they made cannoli while you waited and also had coffee granita (water ice) with whipped cream.

Drive Down From Mt. Etna Through Lava Fields

Our day trip today was to Mount Etna and then the Gambino Winery for a wine tasting. It took about 90 minutes to get to Rifugio Sapienza on the south side of Mt. Etna. It was a mostly slow drive through small towns and then winding roads up the side of the mountain. Near the end of the drive you pass through lava fields to reach the parking area. At this point you are pretty much at cloud level. You can go to the top and see the caldera but you have to take a funicular and then off-road vehicles. That part of the trip is quite expensive and since we have already seen active volcanoes in Hawaii we had decided before we left that we would skip the trip up and do some shopping in the resort area (ski lodge in the winter). Within 30 minutes of arriving, the clouds descended on us and we lost sight of the funicular. Not sure what it was like at the top but you certainly couldn't see much. BTW, the temperature had dropped to the low 50s and of course we had forgotten to bring the warm clothes that we packed specifically for this part of the trip. Jeanne bought a nice jacket (and only 15 euro).

Wine Tasting

From the Rifugio (ski lodge) we made our way back down the road we had come up on and drove north along the eastern side of Etna to the Gambino Winery. That area is a popular region for wine, in part because they say the ashes of a volcano produce the great wine. We did just the basic wine tasting but that included 6 tastings and they left the bottles on the table so you really could drink as much as you wanted. They also gave us a hard boiled egg (a traditional welcoming gift they said), bread, olive oil and 4 kinds of cheese. Needless to say we did not need lunch today.

Gambine Vineyard Overlooking Giardini-Naxos

Dinner tonight was at a place near the hotel and it was pretty good. I had Spada Alla Griglia (swordfish, excellent, fresh) and Jeanne had ravioli stuffed with spinach and cheese in a pistachio and pancetta sauce.  Please pardon all the food talk in the blog but I read a description of a friend's trip to Sicily and I liked hearing what they ate so I'm including ours.

Day 5 - Taormina

Coastline near Cefalu'

We started the day with a 3-hour drive down to Taormina on the east coast. From Cefalu' you take the A20 Autostrada across the northern edge of Sicily to Messina. The A20 is somewhat of an engineering marvel as there are so many tunnels that it is hard to see the sun or listen to music. We did get a glimpse or two of the Eolie Islands to the north. At Messina you head south and follow the Straits of Messina until you can only see open sea. You see mainland Italy (Calabria) from Messina across the straits but there is no bridge, so if you are going across you have to take a ferry. That applies to trains as well.

Jeanne at a cannoli stop in Castelmola

From the main road we go up an amazingly winding road to Castelmola. You have to pass through the tourist crowd at Taormina before you can even start the steep climb to Castelmola which is at least twice as high as Taormina. To do this you better not have a fear of heights or using the clutch. Not sure if I ever got out of second gear.

The town of Castelmola is small but cute and we enjoyed a very nice pizza (bufala mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil) in the town square, followed with a cannoli stop for Jeanne. That's Taormina, the little town way down below in the photo.

View from our balcony

Then we drove back down to our hotel in Giardini-Naxos. We're slumming it at a beachfront Hilton resort (on points) for the next four days, using it as a base for day trips. Giardini-Naxos is a beach town and about 2 blocks wide running along the Mediterranean Sea. There are actual waves here and it is nice to hear them crashing on the shore from our room. That sound makes everything seem more relaxing.

In the evening we went to Taormina to attend an opera concert. The concert consisted of two singers, one male and one female, and a pianist. They sang a selection of arias from various operas, but they featured La Boheme pretty heavily. They closed with three Italian popular classics: "Funiculi, Funicula," "O Sole Mio" and "Torna a Surriento." Very entertaining and the singers were quite good.

Opera Theater in Taormina

We ate light tonight. I tried the arancini from Da Cristina, which everyone on the Internet raves about but I think Fabrizio, the tour guide from Palermo, has gotten in my head. He claims that the arancini in Palermo are superior to those in Catania. I tried two varieties, the traditional type with meat, cheese and tomato sauce and one with pistachios, cheese and grapes. They were okay but not as good as the one in Palermo. Fabrizio might be right.

"Non funziona" is the phrase of the day. It means "not working" and that applied to many things today. When we parked in Castelmolo, the pay station took my money but didn't print a ticket for the window. I left a note in my best Italian explaining the problem but no one seemed to care. I paid for parking in Taormina but the gate opened before I could put my ticket in. Okay. We stopped to buy gas and the person ahead of me said "non funziona" so we moved on to another gas station. After struggling to figure out where to pay (there is only one credit card machine for all 4 pumps) and how to get the gas cap off (you need the car key), I put my card in and it was rejected. An Italian guy helped me but it still didn't accept my card so I pay in cash. Non funziona.

Day 4 - Castelbuono and Cefalu'

Our Fiat Cinquecento

We left Palermo in our little red Fiat Cinquecento (i.e., 500) heading east along the Tyrrhenian Sea past Cefalu' and then turning south, up into the Madonie Mountains, to visit the medieval town of Castelbuono. The drive, which took about 90 minutes, goes through such an uneven part of land that you are basically either in a tunnel or on a bridge for most of the way. One funny thing we noticed is that the Italians name each bridge and tunnel, no matter how small. Not sure why.

Town of Castelbuono (viewed from the castle)

There is an actual castle in Castelbuono (Good Castle) which was built by the wealthy Count Ventimiglia in 1316, after the Ventimiglia family moved from the north of Italy to Sicily for the better weather. The most important thing they brought with them was the holy relic of the skull of Saint Anne, who was the mother of Mary. Saint Anne is now the patron saint of Castelbuono and three times a year the skull is processed around the town. Sicily is notorious for being a land of mysterious religious customs and celebrations that I find fascinating.

Below the castle is a small section of town dating back to the middle ages.

Chapel in the Castle

The most interesting feature of the castle is the chapel which was built in 1636 and features many marble cherubs and supposedly tells the history of the Ventimiglia family. It is beautiful but it certainly fails in getting the history across. I'm left wondering why there were so many cherubs. Even Wikipedia doesn't explain it. By the way, the American actor Milo Ventimiglia is a descendent of the family.

After Castelbuono, we drove to Cefalu' where we spent the night. Cefalu' is a town of Greek origin and was a major fishing village for many hundreds of years and now has become a major tourist center. The star attraction in town is the Duomo of Cefalu' which was started by King Roger II (see earlier posts) in 1131 when he landed there after being saved from a storm at sea.

Duomo at Cefalu'

The town of Cefalu' is certainly cute, has a great beach, numerous restaurants and shops, but maybe too many tourists to be comfortable in. As you can see in the photo, there was a mix of rain drops and bright sunshine when we were there.

The patron saint is San Salvatore and it is the site of a massive religious celebration in his honor in August.

Mosaic of Jesus

Similar to the interior of the cathedral in Palermo, this church is also done in beautiful Byzantine gold colored mosaic tiles, dominated by a huge image of Jesus overlooking the worshipers.

Before we left town, we stopped to buy supplies for dinner. Our room has a terrace overlooking the sea and we like to "eat in" when we have that kind of option. With the help of the store clerk, we bought 3 types of cheese, bread, a bottle of wine from the local Abbey in Castelbuono and some chocolate to add to the "black swine salumi" which we bought in Castelbuono for our dinner. We stayed out until it got dark and the rain started.

Day 3 - Palermo by Bus

180 Years Old Tree in the Royal Garden

Today was our day for the Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour of Palermo.  We find that this kind of tour is a good way to see a large part of a city without doing so much walking. We covered several stops yesterday so we only had to stop at the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace) and the Cattedrale (Cathedral) of Palermo.

The actual name of the palace is the Palace of the Normans because it was rebuilt from a former Arab palace after the Normans conquered Sicily in 1072 and they named Palermo its capital. It was the home of Sicilian kings during the 11th and 12th centuries when Sicily was a major power. The palace itself isn't much to look at from the outside but it contains the magnificent Palatine Chapel added on by King Roger  II in 1132. They also have a very nice little “Royal Garden” which is of course more recent with trees “only” 180 years old. We also saw our first pomegranate bush there. Pomegranates in ancient Italy symbolized fertility and abundance so I suppose it's appropriate to be in a King's garden.

Santa Rosalia (left) with Mary,
Jesus and John the Baptist

The first stop in the palace was to see an exhibition of paintings featuring Saint Rosalia, who is the patron saint of Palermo. According to tradition (which starts almost every story we hear in Palermo), Rosalia was a daughter of a noble Norman family who was very religious and went to live as a hermit in a cave on Monte Pellegrino above Palermo. She died in 1166, but when the plague hit Palermo in 1624 she appeared to a hunter and told him where to find her bones and ordered him to carry her bones in procession around Palermo. After this was done three times, the plague disappeared and she became the “little saint” of Palermo.

Palatine Chapel

As I said, the highlight of the palace is the Palatine Chapel which was the royal family's private place of worship and it is stunning. It features ornate gold colored mosaics in the Byzantine/Arab style which was popular in the 12th century.  The figure of Jesus dominates the part behind the altar and biblical stories in mosaic or painting line the side walls.

Palermo Cathedral

After the palace we walked a short distance to the cathedral to have a better look. The cathedral is the burial place of Roger II and Frederick II who was the most powerful of all the Sicilian kings and also Holy Roman Emperor.  Like many things in Sicily, the cathedral was built on top of an earlier mosque and it still has some arabic features if you look closely. The interior is very plain in comparison to the Palatine Chapel, but of course it was used by the common people of Palermo. By the way, even today Palermo has over 300 churches. Not sure if all of them are still open, but you see a church or two on almost every corner in the old part of town.

For dinner we went to the Antica Birreria Moretti, which was recommended by the hotel clerk. A heavy rain had set in during the afternoon and so we walked 15 to 20 minutes each way in a downpour. The food was very good. Caponata (excellent) as an appetizer, Jeanne had Spaghetti Carbonara (not great) and I had Grilled Spigola (sea bass, which was very good) and Tiramisù (excellent) for dessert.