Palermo Sicily Part 2

We were given an orientation tour on the first official day of the tour.  Now I have a better perspective on how the city is laid out.  The focal point of the city is the Quattro Canti or Four Corners.  Everything radiates from this spot.

Buildings around Quattro Canti in a panoramic view

One of the four corners

Walking north a few blocks from this intersection is the No Mafia Museum.  It is well known that the mafia started in Sicily and later spread to the United States.  The Sicilian Mafia is a criminal organization that started out as a type of local protection and control over land and agriculture.  It then evolved into drug trafficking, money laundering and other crimes.  Sicilians are not proud of their Mafia heritage.  They don't like to talk about it.  I heard about the No Mafia Museum from a YouTube show about Sicily.  It piqued my interest.  Admission is free but you can leave a donation.

Entrance to the No Mafia Museum

Sicilians are not proud of their ties to the Mafia

Inside the museum are stories about how the mafia was started and operated during its hey days of the 1960s' and 1970s'.  There were a lot of black and white photographs of the key characters and crimes committed.  The pictures were gruesome and bloody.  It briefly mentioned how the mafia was expanded to include the United States.

Pictures of the mafia in the 1960s'

More bloody pictures

My next stop is the Chiesa di Santa Caterina, one of the best known churches in Palermo.  It is not just the inside of this beautiful church that is popular but it is also famous for its Cannoli.  Cannolis are a Sicilian pastry with a tube-shaped shell filled with sweet and creamy filling made with ricotta cheese (see picture below).  I paid an entrance fee of €10 to see the inside of the beautiful church and the opportunity to climb to the rooftop.  

The altar inside the church

A beautiful ceiling

One of the displays

The courtyard where people are enjoying their canolis

View of Piazza below

After the tour I waited in line to buy my cannoli.  Many came just to buy the cannolis without going into the church.

Serving canolis

One of the best cannolis in Sicily

Sicilian puppetry has been around since the early 19th century.  It is considered a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.  Across from the Palermo Cathedral is a puppet theater called Opera dei Pupi Teatro.  It is also known as Teatro del Pupi Familia Argento or The Silver Theater.  According to Google AI, Sicilian Puppetry was a popular pastime starting in the 1800s'.  There were about two dozen of these puppet theaters all over Sicily but it's now down to about 5.  We were lucky to go to a demonstration of the art and later attended one of the puppet shows in the evening.

Opera dei Pupi

Puppet master explaining the art of puppetry

Puppets on the wall

Puppet Warrior

Live Puppet Show

The next day we visited a small hilltop village about 1 1/2 hours away called Castelbuono.  Besides its rich history its claim to fame today is their garbage-collecting donkeys.  Seriously, it is actually famous for its medieval castle.  The residents here choose to live in a small town rather than in a big city like Palermo.  We get a chance to see how a small village survives in this environment.

Garbage-collecting donkey

Castelbuono or Good Castle

The medieval castle

Chapel inside the castle

A relaxing group of retirees

A grocery store

The Town Square

Artifacts inside the castle

On our official walk-around Palermo we went to another popular market in Palermo called Ballero.  According to our guide it is not as touristy as Capo market which I went on my own on the first day.  However, they sell similar stuff.

Arancini, a deep-fried rice ball

A street cart

A street vendor

A narrow street in the neighborhood 

Selling cooked food

Palermo Sicily Part 1

I flew from Naples on the mainland of Italy to Palermo in Sicily on an easyJet flight.  It was a short one hour flight.  I arrived two days early before my tour so that I can explore Palermo on my own.  From the Palermo Airport I took a Prestia e Commande bus to the city center.  The ticket was €6, compared to about €40 if I had taken a taxi.  However, it required me to walk about 1km to my hotel.  Normally I would have booked a room at the same hotel where I would be staying for the tour.  But Hotel Frederico was fully booked.  So I found  Le Quattro Stagioni on Booking.com and checked to make sure that it is within walking distance from Hotel Frederico.  

On the outside Le Quattro Stagioni (LQR) looks like part of an old building.  I was met at the reception by the owner David.  Inside was a beautiful hotel.  I paid about €165 or $187 per night.  Breakfast was custom-ordered.  There was a variety of choices; all of them good.

Entrance to the hotel

Bedroom

Bathroom

Coming to the tour early gives me a chance to explore the city on my own at my pace.  David gave me a map and told me the best places to go in Palermo.  Besides, I know that the first day walk-through the city is only a cursory walk.  You don't have time to go into any of the churches, palaces or museums.

My first stop upon leaving LQR is walked towards the Teatro Politeama  This is one of the most significant landmarks in Palermo.  In the next few days I will walk by this landmark several times because it is so centrally located and there are usually some of kind of event going on.  Looking at the crowd that gather there in the evening it is one of the most popular gathering places.  The piazza is called Piazza Ruggero Settimo.

Teatro Politeama

A Concert

A few blocks away in a northwesterly direction is another famous landmark - Teatro Massimo.  It is the biggest opera house in Italy and one of the largest in Europe.

Side view of Teatro Massimo

Frontal View

In front of the theater is the most popular pedestrian mall in Palermo - via Maqueda.  Along this street are  the restaurants and tourist businesses.  On weekends the street is packed with tourists from Italy and around the world.

via Maqueda - popular street for tourists

Restaurants lined the streets

However I did not take this busy street.  Instead I took the side streets and headed towards an outdoor market called Capo.  According to Google, The Mercato del Capo is one of Palermo’s oldest and most vibrant historic street markets, running primarily along Via Sant'Agostino, Via Carini, and surrounding alleyways in the historic Seralcadio district.

If you have been reading my blog you know I love to visit markets.  This is where locals hang out and what they sell and eat is reflection of what is grown in the area.  Here is a YouTube video of the market:

Below are some of my pictures that I took of the Capo market:

Sign on the small street

A narrow street

Selling pastries

A fishmonger

A variety of fruits

Prickly pear fruits are popular here

Deep-fried seafood, very popular in Sicily

Fried sardines

Pomegranate juice is very popular here

From the Capo market I headed west towards the Palermo Cathedral, erected in the 12th century.  This is another major landmark in Palermo and as expected, very crowded.

The Cathedral is an UNESCO World Heritage Site

Outside Views of the Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

Next I headed to the Royal Palace, a short distance away.  Officially, the name of this palace is called Palazzo dei Normanni, meaning Palace of the Normans.  Sicily, in the 10th century was conquered by the Normans.  Inside the Palace is also the Pallatine Chapel.

The official name of the Palace and Chapel

Information about the Palace

Ceiling inside the Chapel

An ornate chapel

There is so much to see and do in Palermo that I have to split this post into two parts.  In the next post I will show other parts of the city that I visited.