Ciao,

  Well today is our last day in Sicily though one could stay in Sicily for a month and have lots to see.  We have actually been here 10 days longer than we’d planned thanks to the strong winds and seas.  Tomorrow’s weather is looking good and there will be several boats leaving early in the morning to make good use of it.  We should be in Tunisia Tuesday midday in Hammamet at the Yasmine Marina.  I don’t know much at all about Tunisia but when I linked it with watercolor I got lots of Internet hits.  Apparently Tunisia had a huge impact on Paul Klee among others.  Not much was available on Kindle but I did download Fountains in the Sand: Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia by Douglas Norman who died in 1952 so I imagine some things have changed. It will be interesting to read his chapter on Hammamet.

   I will try to get off maybe one or two final emails about our days in Palermo, but some of it and some images of Licata will have to wait until we’re settled in Tunisia.

Ru

Palermo with Linda and Frank Szerdahelyi 

     I sort of wanted to visit Palermo because our Sicily book made some of the sights look quite  spectacular.  And it was like, “how can we go to Sicily and not visit Palermo?”  As I wrote in an earlier email,  our attempt to drive there was a total failure.  Before leaving on our road trip we’d met cruisers Linda and Frank Szerdahelyi here to visit Linda’s Sicilian relatives and to see Sicily on their way to crossing the Atlantic.  They too were still here waiting for good weather when we returned so invited them to come for Randal’s attempt at clam pasta. (Very good!)  During dinner they mentioned they were going on a 2 night trip to Palermo and I said, “Oh, maybe we’ll catch the same bus as you.”  Well that turned into a lovely visit to Palermo with Linda and Frank.  We booked into the same hotel Linda had found on Via Roma just near all the sights we’d want to see.  Randal and I had planned to stay just one night but added another as we were having such a good time and there was so much to see. 

We all met on the marina dock 6:30 am Tuesday for the 15 minute walk to the bus station and caught the 7 am bus which would arrive in Palermo about 10:15.  By car it would probably take half that time, but we made stops in small towns and once so a man could retrieve his sun glasses from his luggage in the bus storage compartment.  We also made a “comfort stop.” 

     The Palermo bus station was just a 15 minute walk from our hotel.  We were too early for check-in but left our bits of luggage and tortoises Olive and Oliver (more later on that) and off we went for snack and then some sights. 

     Linda and Frank had some specific things they wanted to see as did I.  As in Etna I had a walking tour from the book Desiring Italy.   Cahill’s Literary Traveler suggestions made me especially want to see the Gesu, the Baroque church of the Casa Professa with its “incredible wild display of marble and sculptural decoration” and the surrounding streets full of vendors; and also the Quattro Canti “an operatic crossroads with four facades bearing fountains and statues of the 4 seasons, 4 Spanish kings of Sicily, and the 4 patronesses of Palermo.”  My Sicily Art History Culture and Folklore book had a 15th century  painting of Mary that caught my eye.  The book seems to imply that the painting is located in the Capella Palatina, another fantastic place which we visited looking for the painting.  The painting isn’t there; it’s in the Palazzo Abattelis; so it was also added to our list.  Super unfortunately for Linda and Frank, the archeological museum, a main attraction for them, was closed for renovation.  One could spend days and days in Palermo studying each beautiful church or fountain or building.  We saw what we could in two and had great fun.

Hotel Moderno http://www.hotelmodernopa.com/eng/?page_id=4 The lovely breakfast room. It was better than modern as it felt “not modern” so had more atmosphere.

View of Via Roma from the breakfast room

Breakfast always included a wonderful Italian pastry I sadly discovered that the 3 Ps. Pastry, pizza and pasta = pounds!  I truly have gained 5 pounds since we’ve been in Sicily.  Amazingly I haven’t had to resort to Elizabeth Gilbert’s “big girl pants” yet; but if I don’t watch out!  Wonder what they eat in Tunisia?

Breakfast was pastry, roll, butter, jelly, Nutella, juice some cookies and crackers and gallons of cappuccino.

The elevator cage.  We were on the 4th floor, one level above reception and breakfast.  I could find my way around Palermo better than I could find our room because of the maze of interlocking corridors.  The four of us and our tiny bit of backpack luggage and tortoise cooler bag totally filled the actual tiny elevator that always started each trip with a clunk, but never failed or stuck you between floors like the half million lira place we stayed in during our visit to Rome in 2000.

Our room didn’t have a great view, but you could always see the sunlight  and hear the screaming seagulls.

Dukes of Hazzard in Italian.