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.

Sicily

Itinerary for Sicily Tour

Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) conducts more than 200 tours in Sicily every year.  What is amazing is that the tours don't run in the summer, when it's too hot in Sicily.  There are tours almost every day during the season.  That gives them an advantage over other tour companies because they can hire the best travel guides and get the best deals at hotels and restaurants.  We are often warmly welcomed by the locals.

I heard a lot of good things about this tour from other OAT travelers and that's one reason why I signed up for this trip.  I have been to other parts of Italy but never south of Rome.  I picked October for my travel because it's the best time to travel in Sicily.  Here is the abbreviated itinerary of the tour:

Day 1 - Depart U.S.

Day 2 - Arrive in Palermo, Sicily

Day 3 - Explore Palermo • Controversial Topic: Conversation about Sicilian Mafia with local experts

Day 4 - A Day in the Life of Castelbuono

Day 5 - Overland to Monreale • Segesta • Overland to Mazara del Vallo

Day 6 - Explore Mazara • Tunisian Kasbah • Home-Hosted Lunch

Day 7 - Museo del Sale visit • Boat ride to Mothya Island • Sicilian cooking lesson

Day 8 - Overland to Piazza Armerina • Valley of the Temples • Agrigento

Day 9 - Overland to Ragusa • Villa Romana del Casale • Winery Tour

Day 10 - Old Town Ragusa • Fiat ride through Modica

Day 11 - Val di Noto farm visit • Optional Sicilian cooking lesson tour

Day 12 - Overland to Catania • Siracusa • Explore Ortigia

Day 13 - Explore Catania • World War II Museum • Conversation about volcanology

Day 14 - Catania • Visit Taormina

Day 15 - Catania • 4-wheel-drive journey to Mount Etna

Day 16 - Return to U.S. or begin your post-trip extension

The tour starts in Palermo, the biggest and capital city of Sicily.  Then we go on to Mazara, at the western part of the island where it sees few tourists.  After that we travel to the middle of the island and stay 3 nights in Ragusa.  On the way to Catania we'll stop at the town of Siracusa. an ancient port with a rich history and an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We'll spend the last four nights of our tour in Catania.  Using this as a base we'll also visit Taormina, another popular tourist town.  We end our tour by driving up to Mount Etna.

The Amalfi Coast Italy

I have seen many pictures of the Amalfi Coast, with beautiful houses built on the side of the mountain.  I have also heard a lot about the beauty of the area.  I also want to compare the Amalfi Coast with another Italian region that I have been to:  Cinque Terre in northwest Italy.

I found out that it was not that difficult to go from Naples to the Amalfi Coast.  Ferries run daily from Naples to Amalfi, with stops in Sorrento, Positano and Capri. The latter 3 towns are also popular tourist towns in the area.  Some tourists stay in one of these towns for up to a week and explore the area.  I chose to do a 1-day trip to Amalfi.

My hostess Alessandra told me to take the metro from Garibaldi to the Municipio Porto station and from there walk to Molo Angiono to board the ferry to Amalfi.

A similar ferry

Buying ticket for the ferry

Disembarking the ferry

Houses on the side of the mountain

The round-trip ferry ticket was €66.

The total one-way trip was about 1 1/2 hours with a stop at Sorrento.  As you approach Amalfi you start to see houses that are built on the side of the mountains.  Unlike many developing countries where the poor live on the top of the mountain, here the rich live on top of the mountain.  These are beautiful houses, not shacks.  

After disembarking it didn't take long for you to realize you are in a tourist town.  There is only one main street in Amalfi.  Obviously all the tourist shops - cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops, are on this street. The duomo or cathedral is at the main square at the beginning of this street.  The place reminds me very much of one of the cities in Cinque Terre.  Both are very popular Italian destinations - one in the north, another in the south.

The Duomo

Beginning of the Main Street

A snack shop

This store sells seeds

Some B&Bs' towards the end of Main Street

Residential area

A pocket of seafood, about €11

A limoncello spritz

Gelatos are popular everywhere

It didn't take long for me to run out of places to go and see.  I decided to go inside the duomo.  Below are some pictures.

  

The departure time for the ferry back to Naples was 5pm.  I changed to an earlier ferry at 3:30pm because I ran out of things to see.  I did not want to venture to far away from the ferry terminal.

View of Amalfi from ferry terminal

View of houses near the ferry terminal

More beautiful houses and buildings on the side of the mountain

Our location on the map

I saw more beautiful houses on the side of the mountain as we made a stop in Positano.

We finally arrived back in Naples at about 5pm.  

I stopped at one of the restaurants recommended by Alessandra.  I had a nice seafood dinner at a busy restaurant in Piazza Garibaldi.

Branzino, other seafood and spaghetti