Surviving Palermo

Before arriving at Palermo, we decided to visit the famous cathedral at nearby Monreale. And I have to say, the place is definitely worth the detour. It is quite simply one of the most stunning churches I’ve ever seen (and we’ve seen quite a few – we spend a lot of our holidays in Italy!). The cathedral is probably the most perfect example of Norman architecture (yes, even the Normans were here) – and the oriental influence (the Ottomans, again) is very much present especially in the stunning interior. Having spent the appropriate time being impressed and awed, we made our way back towards the car. Again, we were struck by a torrent of rain the likes of which we’ve rarely seen, but thankfully we made it back to the car sound and safe.

Getting to the hotel was quite an interesting driving experience. There’s driving in Sicily, and then there’s driving in Palermo (which is a bit like driving in Sicily to the power of two). Anarchy rules, as they say… I have to say I secretly enjoyed it, especially as we made it to the hotel without a single scratch! Our hotel was quite a place as well – located in an ancient palace (we parked our car in the shaded courtyard, under the arcades – pretty cool). Service was minimalist to say the least (I reckon the receptionist spends about 90 per cent of his time watching the telly, the rest of the time at the toilet or having his siesta, I suspect).

We were eager to explore town, in spite of the fact that it was dark and rainy. The part of the city we were staying at is a good example of what a cosmopolitan place Palermo has always been, and still is. Basically, most of the restaurants are either Bangladeshi or Pakistani. And this is pretty much slam-bang in the middle of the historic centre. More like Edgware road in London, or something. Most restaurants were closed, but we eventually found a place where we had ourselves some nice snacks – in a real worker men’s eatery.

The next day, we got up bright 'n early, and headed out to explore town. The impression we got pretty soon of Palermo was that it’s quite similar to Naples. Basically, it’s very noisy, dirty, and teeming with life. And has an unbelievable cultural heritage, enough to compete with pretty much any city on mainland Europe. So an incredibly fascinating place to be, but on the other hand the experience can be a bit stressful at the time. Anyway, our walk took in most parts of Palermo, the theatre (where the final scene of Godfather 3 was shot, actually), the markets (where I had myself some fresh octopus for a late breakfast), more churches than you can shake a stick at (in all sorts of styles – Baroque, Norman, Romanesque, you name it), the port area and so forth. But the thing that you take away from it all, more than anything else, is just how mad and chaotic the place is.

In the afternoon, after gaping at the stunning cathedral (another example of Norman architecture – this one has a pretty disappointing interior though, as opposed to Monreale cathedral), we visited what is probably the main tourist site at Palermo, the Cappella Palatina. The chapel was commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132, and is a rather stunning example of Byzantine architecture. The interior is perhaps even more impressive than that of Monreale Cathedral. We were once more suitably awed.

All that walking left us pretty exhausted, so we decided to have a nice meal in one of the classier restaurants in town to wrap up the day. I decided to go for a bit of meat, for a change – and wasn’t disappointed. No complaints from Mathilde about her fish either... All in all, a good way to end the day…

The next day, that damn rain started coming down again. At a bit of a loss as to what to do, we decided to head down to Villa Malfitano, an Art Noveau villa located a bit outside the town centre of Palermo. It was a bit of a strange place, we just sort of wandered in and started visiting the place. No ticket office, nothing. Just us and a couple of Italian ladies being given a private tour (the lady giving the tour was the daughter of the owner of the place, no less, turns out!), and another group of distinguished folks being given the tour by an architect or something. Well, nonetheless, the place was rather stunning, with some very impressive period furniture.

After this dose of art noveau (or Liberty, as it's known in Italy), we decided it was time for a bit of Ottoman architecture, so we made our way to nearby Zisa. The Zisa is yet another example of the hybrid Norman-Arabic architectural style. The inside looks positively Arabic – but unfortunately it was all quite plain (it sort of pales in comparison to Alhambra for example – especially given the other magnificent stuff we’ve seen in Sicily so far). But, an interesting detour, nonetheless.

After a bit of shopping (I purchased an umbrella, which seemed rather necessary, and sun glasses, which seemed much less so), and a couple of churches later, the day was nearly wrapped up. We decided to try and have dinner at the oldest Trattoria in Palermo, but it was closed, disappointingly. We ended up in a place that was also recommended by our guidebook. Turned out to be a bit of a tourist trap, unfortunately. Just before we entered the restaurant, we were treated to the spectacle of an intersection being totally blocked due to what appeared to be the contents of some bins having been emptied in the middle of the road. This resulted in predictable chaos, as people tried to get around the rubble, do their U-turns etc. Not a police in sight. So, after our meal, we passed by the same intersection. The only difference this time was that the pile of rubble seemed to have grown. And still no police in sight. That’s Palermo for you… (I suppose somebody haven’t paid there protection money, or something?).

Kind of an appropriate way to end a very fascinating Palermo visit!