Palermo, Sicily

Today is Sunday and most of the shops are closed and many of the attractions are only open from 9-1pm. We decided to explore the city using the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus but ended up walking over 9 km anyway rather than wait 1/2 for the bus.

Our first stop was to visit the catacombs of the Capuchin Friars, where several thousand mummified bodies of monks, noblemen, men, women and children are in their original 15th-19thC clothes. A 2yr old child is so well preserved you think she is just sleeping but she is 101 yrs old. #justsocurious

Next stop was a tour of the Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele, the largest Opera House in Italy and the third largest in Europe after Paris and Venice. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. The Pompeian hall was a special circular-shaped room (“Echo room”) with perfect acoustics. The louder and clearer your voice becomes the closer to the centre of the room you are. It was originally a smoking room for nobles only.

We decided that our foodie E & E had to be Palermo’s famous Sicilian Street Food. We were not disappointed as we ordered a selection of Arancina-deep fried rice balls but ours were also stuffed with cheese, potato and ham; we also had zucchini wrapped shrimp tails, and bruschetta for Jessi. Arancina is the only food with its own patron saint, Santa Lucia. Jessi made the mistake of asking our server for a tomato sauce (like Carne) to put over the balls. The woman acted very disgusted and pointed to the tubes of Ketchup sitting on the table then walked away. 😂

We didn’t walk more than 1/2 block before stopping to get a gelato and a small cannoli to complete our meal.

I was very intrigued to see the fountain of shame which had an assortment of nudes displayed all around it. This fountain use to reside at a convent but the nuns thought it obscene and so it was moved and placed near the police station.

We just missed the bus and so decided we’d walk off some of our lunch and make our way back to the ship along the shoreline. We happened on a few lost passengers who were grateful we helped them get back to the ship. #gpsforever

Sadly, Palermo is a city with a serious garbage problem and it really detracted from our walking tour as you saw piles of dog poo everywhere, discarded clothing, furniture, food and even the remains of a dead cat beside the sidewalk. We were shocked how aggressively and impatiently the drivers acted toward pedestrians. It certainly made sense why they stopped drivers from entering the 2 major intersecting streets in the city. It was the first city on our entire trip that we worried crossing the street and so we waited for a local to cross with us!!!