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Monday, October 31, 2022
We scheduled a limo for 9:00 am. He showed up around 9:20 am. That was late even for Italy. We had discussed calling an UBER but he came before we could pull the trigger. Fortunately, we made it over to the bus station in plenty of time. Surprisingly, the bus arrived early and departed on time.
We could have taken the train. We would have traveled North up the coast to Messina and then West along the coast to Palermo. There would have been lovely scenery the entire way. Unfortunately, the trip by train would have taken 3.5 hours and the bus, which crossed through the middle of the island, only took 2.5 hours. As expected, there wasn’t much to see in the interior of the island.
We had originally planned to stay in Palermo for 3-4 weeks. That would have completely exhausted our allotment of Schengen time. Somewhere along the way we decided to add a stop in Malta, which also counts as Schengen time, and since everyone recommended we pay a visit to Syracuse as well we decided to redistribute our remaining time. Now it will be a week in Palermo, a week in Syracuse, and nine days in Malta. A week is a good amount of time. It’s long enough to really get to know a city and long enough to give us a break from constant traveling. We learned last time that constantly moving from city to city without a decent break in between causes a lot of stress and really wears us out quickly. We’re determined not to make that mistake again.
We arrived in town around 12:45 pm. Our host said that it would be too early to check in but if we wanted we could drop off our bags and come back later. By the time we arrived at the apartment the cleaning people had left and we were able to check in right away.
Once settled in we decided to get some lunch and get acquainted with our new home town. Our host had recommended a place to get arancini. The restaurant had the usual array of flavors and also a number of unique ones as well. We both got Halloween inspired ones: one was pumpkin with sausage and mushroom, the other was pumpkin and cheese. They were very good. Next door was a place that had gelato and artisanal cannoli. We got a cannoli filled with classic ricotta on one side and hazelnut cream on the other. I preferred the classic and Deborah the hazelnut. Win, win! Just for fun we also tried one of their cassata cakes. By the end of the meal we were very full.
The rest of the afternoon we walked around town, peering into shops, and just getting to know the area. We picked up some groceries before heading back to the apartment. Palermo is a much bigger city than Catania. We have a lot on our plate for this week.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
We scheduled a free walking tour for 10:00 am. In spite of the name it’s still customary to give the guide a tip. Since I only had a €50.00 bill we decided to go out and get coffee beforehand so I could get change. We met our tour group at the Church of St. Ignatius at Olivella at 9:50 am, checked in, and were told that the tour would start at 10:10 am. We took the opportunity to check out the church. It’s a very pretty Romanesque style church in the early Baroque style. Unlike the churches we had seen in Catania this one had not been destroyed and rebuilt. It was quite ornate. While we were there the organist was practicing with several members of the choir. We longed to join in.
Our guide was a young woman from a village near Palermo. Her English was very good. We followed her around the old part of the city for two hours. We’d already found most of the places she showed us but we enjoyed the added history, the backstories, and the insights that she added. As usual, we will go back to all of these places (and more) and see them in detail.
We learned a few interesting things. The first is that arancina were invented during the 200 year period when the Arabs ruled Palermo. The Arabs needed a quick and easy handheld food to take with them when working outside the city. Also, the food is properly pronounced arancina – not arancini. The ones in Palermo are round like arancia (oranges) and thus are called arancina. The people in Catania wanted to take credit for inventing them. They made their’s in the shape of a pyramid (actually the shape of the volcano Etna) and called them arancini. For what we know the name arancini seems to be more prevalent.
Another interesting fact was that the old town of Palermo was divided into four sections based on the intersection of the two main roads. Different ethnic groups lived in each section. To this day the sections still retain some of their traditional character.
After the tour we went in search of a place to eat lunch. In general food seems to be more expensive here than in Catania but we managed to find a small, mom and pop restaurant with incredible prices and very good food. I ordered the calamari but it was “finished” (they ran out). Instead I ordered spaghetti with clams (€6.00) and Deborah ordered spaghetti Bolognese (€4.50). Deborah even ate most of the peas! We’ll definitely be going back there again.
For dessert we went over to Chiesa di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria. The story goes that the nuns of the Admiralty were famous for their marzipan that they shaped and dyed to resemble a variety of fruits. That tradition continues to this day. We entered the back entrance to the church and ascended a flight of stairs to the cloister. There we stood on line to get into the dolceria or sweet shop. There was a vast array of pastries, cookies, and marzipan. We got a cannoli and two pieces of marzipan. We sat on a bench in the cloister and ate the cannoli. It was one of the best we’ve ever had. The marzipan is for tonight’s dessert.
Next to the church is a convent and in front of the convent is a giant marble fountain imported from Florence in the late 16th Century replete with 48 nude statues. It is called the Praetorian Fountain but the locals often referred to it as the Fountain of Shame. Why? One story says that it’s because the nun’s windows overlooked the nude male figures. Another says it’s because it represented the corruption of the municipality.
On the other side of the church was another, much older church that dated from the Norman period. The Church of Saint Cataldo dates from the 12th Century and, although it appears to have once been a Mosque, it was purposely built in the Moorish style and was never a Mosque. We paid €2.00 per person (cash only) to enter. It was a very small church made of large blocks of stone. The ceiling featured three small vaults held up by large pillars with Corinthian capitals. None of the surfaces were decorated. The stone floor had an intricate geometric mosaic design. It was small and simple and had an intimate feeling to it.
Next we tried to visit a church from the tour: Chiesa del Gesù. It’s a magnificent 17th Century Baroque church. When we got there it was closed. Many establishments closed early today as it was the celebration of All Saints Day in Italy.
We wandered through the nearby outdoor market. There were vendors selling clothes, cheese, meats, fish, candies, nuts, and plenty of restaurants serving fresh food. We plan to have lunch there on another day.
We wandered around for a bit and then decided to head out to one of the city’s gates (Porta Nuova) and check out their open air market. We were really interested in getting some bread. There was no market. They probably closed early today, as well. Instead we stopped at a nearby shop that the tour guide recommended to sit and refresh ourselves with a granita. All the granitas we’ve ever had were like Icees. You could eat them with a spoon or a straw. These were much firmer and required a spoon. They came in all sorts of interesting flavors. The clerk let us taste a few. Deborah went with the prickly pear and I went with the lemon. They were bursting with fresh fruit flavor.
Finally it was time to go home. Along our travels we tried to enter a number of churches. Quite a few of them were charging substantial sums for entry. We were really surprised by this. We have a number of churches on our must see list. Perhaps we’ll circle back to some of the other ones if we have time.
We ate the marzipan after dinner. It was nothing special.