Sicily – First Stop Palermo
Wednesday 19 April - Well it’s Girls on Tour – Denise, Julie and I are having some long overdue “sister-time”. We decided that we would visit somewhere in Europe that none of us had been – not as easy as it sounded, as we are all quite well-travelled, especially in Europe, and also I was keen to go somewhere warmer (most welcome as it’s been around 8 degrees in Amsterdam and in the UK). Sicily was the answer!!!!!
It is the largest region in Italy and the third most highly populated, with over 5 million inhabitants. The terrain is mostly hilly and the most interesting feature of the mountain zones are the volcanoes, especially Mt Etna which is the largest active volcano in Europe. The shores are washed by three different seas – the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and this is reflected in the island’s ancient name for Sicily – “Trinacria” – the three cornered island.
Denise and I met up with Julie at Stansted Airport and we caught a luxury (who am I kidding!) flight to Palermo on Ryanair! It’s exciting visiting somewhere new and we arrived around 9pm. We picked up a rental car which Julie gallantly drove into the town centre, not that easy as for some bizarre reason, none of the street lights are working and there are no cats-eyes in the road separating the lanes, factor in all the drivers think they are racing on the Monza national racetrack and you have quite a hairy experience. We made our way to our Air BnB and just as we met up with Guido our host outside, there was a tremendous crash further down the street with a car pulling out and smashing right into a motorcyclist. Note to selves, avoid driving at night where possible!
Keen to get out and have a little walk around after travelling all day, Guido dropped us into the centre of the old town which is about 10 minutes from the apartment and there we were greeted by plenty of nightlife and very welcome locals – Palermites! Around 11.30pm we settled on a lovely little trattoria named Arrimata, and enjoyed some caprese salad and penne with eggplant and fresh tomatoes, washed down with huge glasses of wine - with each glass seeming to hold half a bottle! What a great start to our visit! Everyone out and about and enjoying themselves – I can see we are in for a real treat and lots of fun.
Thursday 20 April – a nice sunny day and armed with our map and list of places to tick off we were off and out. Our first stop, and not far from our lodgings, was the Capo Mercato, an outdoor market selling everything from fruit, vegetables, fresh fish, cheeses, beautiful locally crafted ceramics, spices and olives. It was a veritable treat for the senses, such a riot of colour - like an artist’s palette - beautiful Sicilian lemons and oranges, strawberries, raspberries, deep purple aubergines and rich ripe tomatoes coupled with all the prominent blues and yellows from the ceramics and tablecloths, not to mention the smells of cooking wafting through the air. This area has the noise of old Arab bazaars which shows the Arab influence on the city. Coffees and pastries all around and then a wonderful walk through the old town of Palermo.
Palermo is deemed to be the most conquered city in history – nearly 15 different cultures have occupied this city from the Phoenicians in the 7th century, through to the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs to the Normans, the Germans and the Italians. It is also one of the cities with the largest number of UNESCO sites. We spent the whole day wandering around the old town, taking in the Cathedral, the Teatro Massimo, the third largest theatre in Europe – a backdrop to last night’s dinner and today’s afternoon coffee, famous for its opera performances and also a location for filming of some of the scenes from “The Godfather”; the Quattro Canti (four corners), an octagonal square that has been created through the intersection of two of Palermo’s main roads, the Via Vittorio and Via Maqueda, and quite stunning to look at with its statues and fountains.
The Fontana Della Vergogna (The Fountain of Shame), commissioned by a Spanish noble, Don Luigi de Toledo in Florence, this features statues of multiple men and women cavorting naked which caused quite a reaction from the population which was predominantly devout Catholic in 1574. The angriest of all was Sister Mary from the Santa Caterina Monastery which shared the square with the newly installed fountain. She would look out of her window each morning at the fountain and shout with rage “How shameful, you sinners will burn in hell” hence the reason the monument got its name. Despite the nuns’ feeling violated by its presence, the general public grew to love it and so it is still here in 2023! So much history and so many beautiful buildings. It certainly was a pleasure to be able to take in as much as we could in our short visit.
Sunset on our terrace was enjoyed along with a chilled bottle of Prosecco rosé and then off for dinner – I was determined to find a restaurant that offered vitello scallopini ala marsala Siciliana, a local speciality, and was successful in my search and not disappointed either. A perfect end to the day and our short stay here.
Off to Catania tomorrow!