Palermo

This is the third day of our trip to Sicily. We flew to Catania because that's where the cheap flights go to, but Catania seems really grim, what we saw of it anyway. We only stayed long enough to pick up the hire car. It is a Fiat 500 but one of the big four door ones. It drives OK, although it doesn't pull in second gear if there's any sort of a hill, so if forced to go up a hill slowly, because of bends or other traffic, you have crash it into first. it is very ugly. There are still some old proper Fiat 500s on the road, and it's the same problem as the new Mini - it isn't a mini at all. We had a Mini when we first married and it was brilliant fun to drive and ideal round London. The new one is just your ordinary car, and as with our Fiat, when it's inflated into a four door car, it's terrible.

So we had some problems getting on the right road out of Catania, but managed it, and drove across Sicily to Palermo. The scenery is spectacular once in the mountains, although already pretty dry. There was a long diversion onto mountain roads, the first of many, because the viaducts have been badly built and are unsafe. Some of the tunnels are closed too. I suspect it's due to corruption. Clearly Sicily bakes in the summer and I think we're just in time.There are lots of flowers and birdsong, but the sun is very hot. 

The B&B in Palermo was great. It was in the old town in an old house. We were at the top, and the stairs were not absolutley regular - some were higher than others so we had to be a bit careful going up and down. But it was a very nice room and we got an extremely filling breakfast both days, so much so that we have forgone a lunch and settled for fruit. To top breakfast off each day we were given a pastry filled with sweetened ricotta, which sounds nice (and it did taste nice) but was like having eaten a brick. 

 

Looking down the street of our B&B

We settled in and went out for a stroll. Palermo is very run down. There are old houses which are only a facade - the house has completely collapsed behind. And there are plenty of what I suppose to be bomb sites - at least that's what they look like, and Palermo was badly bombed in 1943. But we felt quite safe. I'm sure, as in any city, there are places one shouldn't venture at night, but it's not scary like Naples

There are heaps of dilapidated palazzi. I know in Italy one can't judge the wealth of the inhabitants by the outside of a building, but there are lots of balconies I wouldn't venture out onto. They are alarmingly decrepit.

The next day, after breakfast, we went straight to the Palatine Chapel. 

Part of the ceiling of the Palatine Chapel

Christ Pantocrator (ruler of all)

The B&B is really close so that we beat the crowd and had nearly an hour with just a few other people in there, before the bus trips arrived. I don't know what the rest of the holiday will be like, but the chapel would be worth the journey on its own. It so beautiful that no words of mine or any photos could possibly do it justice. The whole interior has a wonderful golden glow, as the background of all the mosaics is gold.Immediately as you go in you are facing the majestic Christ Pantocrator, every bit is covered with saints, angels, scenes from the life of Christ, scenes from Genesis, and beautiful foliage round the windows. Roger II brought Byzantine mosaic artists to decorate the interior, and there are inscriptions in Latin and Greek. There's also wonderful Arab style decorative, non figurative mosaics, and a superb Arab style carved wooden ceiling. You can make out scenes of hunting and dancing, and there are saints and prophets. It was heavenly.

We looked at the roooms from Roger's palace that can be seen. They are used by the regional assembly, but it doesn't sit on a Monday.It was mildly interesting, the best bit being Roger's loggia, which is the least altered, and an inscription about Roger's handiwork in Arabic, Greek and Latin. That was interesting because the three versions were different when one compared the translations in Italian. They betrayed the cultural conventions of each ethnic group. We also saw inscriptions which added Hebrew to the list of languages. But nothing can compare to the chapel.

Then we walked down to the cathedral, which is on the outside a strange mix of Gothic and Arab and Catalan elements. Inside, the mosaics have gone and it's been baroqued, and was a terrible disappointment. The treasury had Roger's daughter's crown, which was fascinating to see as it was like the ones you see on Byzantine depictions of the emperor - a sort of beanie shape, covered with uncut jewels and with dangling sort of earrings. We liked that, and also the tombs of Roger and his daughter Constanza.

We had a coffee and walked to the Martorana This is a church built by Roger's highly successful admiral, George of Antioch It was quite little, so a bit has been added, but the old church has superb mosaics and Arab decorative art. There's a mosaic of Roger receiving the crown from Christ and one of George prostrating himself before the Virgin. One of the reasons we were keen to come to Sicily was that we read a book called The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth, set in twelfth century Sicily, and it was nice to see portraits of these important characters. How lifelike the mosaics are, of course, we can't know. The next door church belongs to the knights of Jerusalem but was closed

George of Antioch and the Virgin

La Martorana

We walked back to the B&B via the market, which was interesting. Phil bought and ate an octopus salad, with lots of lemon juice and parsley. I had a taste and it was very good indeed. Judging by what was on sale, Palermitans live on tuna and snails. I never imagined there could be so many edible snails. Unfortunately neither tuna or snails are items I would choose from a menu. But for dinner we had a couple of Sicilian specialities that I really did enjoy - a stuffed aubergine dish and pasta with fennel and sardines.

We walked miles, because next day we walked to La Zisa.This was Roger's hunting lodge outside the city. To get there we had to walk through a seriously grim bit of Palermo - not Bombay style, but not what one expects in Europe. But La Zisa has been restored and has a show of household objects beautifully made in Arab style, obviously not those belonging to Roger but representing the way the lodge would have been furnished.

La Zisa

The twelfth century chapel next to La Zisa

Then we walked over to Teatro Massima, which unfortunately is dark while we're here, and saw the shopping streets - not as smart and tempting as Florence, which is a good thing as far as I am concerned. We walked down to the harbour where there were cruise ships like floating enormous blocks of flats. We don't fancy cruising anyway, but these behemoths confirmed our prejudices. The harbour area was heavily bombed in 1943 and there are large waste lands.

 There's a memorial to victims of the anti-mafia movement, including one sponsored by LaStampa in memory of journalists who were killed. I think it has helped somewhat, although the Mafia are very far from a spent force. Perhaps they are a bit more subtle in their approach nowadays. There was lots going on -a pop concert for young people, professional and amateur fishermen, joggers, dog walkers and such, so after a long sit and watch we set off back to the restaurant -  the same as last night's,  it was good, and shortly after fell into bed.

The next day we got up early and set off to Monreale The parking for the B&B is secure, but it's only small and contained six cars and a scooter jigsawed into place, so we needed the help of Alessandro and Massimo to juggle cars to get out. It was all rather fun and quite Italian.