Palermo

We have not ben able to bring you all the wonderful things we have seen until now, we finally found in the Art Cafe in Sciacca (pronounced Shacka) someone who speaks English and understands internet speed because in Sicily everything moves v e r y s l o w l y. Our bodies told us not to play golf on the last day in Sardinia so we visited Cagliari. The city is on a steep incline, so much so that there are various lifts provided for assistance. We walked to the top to the Archeological Museum, built over some of the original city walls that now make up part of the internal exhibit. That and the Palace were quite interesting but otherwise we did not find Cagliari to be too exciting, there are some lovely wide piazzas with far reaching, if not beautiful views but everything is spoiled by the graffiti, which is a global epidemic but here is the worst we’ve seen. Arriving at the port in good time I proceeded to hand over our internet printed booking. The woman behind the desk immediately started shouting that this was the wrong paper and ripped it into a dozen pieces, shaking her head and waving her arms she then put our name into the computer and out popped the ticket, just like any other airline or shipping desk. Finally she handed it back to me warning in a loud voice: “NEXT TIME, BRING TICKET!” Charming! The ship was called “TUSCANY”, appropriate because she was as old as the hills, and it was a voyage of superlatives. Having encountered the rudest ticket agent we then boarded the smelliest ship, serving the coldest most expensive food quite a contrast to our previous voyages. We refused to use the shower but remarkably the bunks were comfortable and we slept like babies. (Travel tip: bring your own pillows). There are some places that must be arrived at by water: Istanbul, Venice, Sydney and probably Palermo. As the morning haze lifted we could clearly see the Sicilian hills as we docked in Palermo, in front of the city. It was a glorious day and as we got closer the details of the buildings, the old gates and domes and the towers on the roofline indicated that we were arriving somewhere special. This city has a rich history from Baroque, Bourbon, Byzantine, Muslim and Norman that have been woven together.

We drove around for about an hour and seeing cars parked double, perpendicular, on sidewalks and blocking the alleys we realized that the place is chaos so we retreated to the seafront to park the car and set off on foot. We asked two policemen for directions to the Tourist Office. They both got out of the car, opened the back door and rummaged in their briefcases for a map of the city which they gave us with a farewell in English “Enjoy Palermo”. At enormous expense we hired a motorised rickshaw and were immediately on a whirlwind magical mystery tour! The architecture is incredible, passing a church then a piazza like Pretoria and the fountain of shame seen here.

One minute you can be down an alley twisting and turning, half expecting dishwater to rain down from an upper window to arrive at something like this...

before getting back on the main track past an Opera House or a Museum to arrive at the extraordinary Cathedral and Episcopal Palace.

Palermo has long been neglected but many structures are being restored. It is beautiful, ugly, poor, dirty, vibrant and hectic, except at lunch when everything stops! We hope to return, one day is not enough. We had a pleasant drive through the western vineyards and olive groves down to our lovely apartment by the sea at Piana Grande.