Palermo, Italy

Palermo, Sicily, Italy -- February 23, 2015

We had been to Sicily before, but it was Messina that we docked at so Palermo was a new port for us. We planned on just taking it easy and explore the city on our own.  As our ship entered the harbor we could tell that it would be another rainy day for us.

After breakfast, we left the ship at 8:40 and the rain really started to pour. There were many taxis at the port gate trying to get their business for the day. After bargaining a bit, we ended up with a van for the seven of us for a total of 120 euro for the 3 hour trip. We felt it was OK because the rain was getting heavier and it didn't look like it would lighten up any time soon. They told us that the tour would include the "monastery" up in the mountain, plus the four sites in the Old Town area. I suppose all the taxis were the same because it looked like they were all using the same brochure of "Palermo Taxi Tour and Carriage Tour".

After driving up the winding road up hill for about 30 minutes, we arrived at our first stop--the "monastery" Montepellegrino (Santuario Santa Rosalia).

It looked pretty ordinary from the outside, but as we entered we found it totally amazing.

Clean restrooms were available on the left side of this building.

Entrance to the sanctuary

There is an open courtyard leading to the cave.

Looking back at the entrance from the courtyard. There is a little shop and museum on the right where it says "exit".

The sanctuary inside the cave. The metal pieces were there to catch the water dripping.

Having been to so many churches and cathedrals, this was certainly a unique place of worship.

I was glad that we took the taxi, otherwise we would have never gone up here on our own. The driver said there's a way to walk up here but probably not a good idea on a rainy day like this.

Then we drove back down to town. Traffic was terrible because there was a demonstration going on and the driver had to find alternate routes to get us to where he wanted. We drove by the Teatro Politeama  and then stopped at the Teatro Massimo for some pictures.

Streets near Teatro Massimo.

Piazza Verdi

An interesting looking tabacchi.

Next stop, Piazza Pretoria

with the beautiful fountain

another angle of the fountain

The church behind the fountain which we did not have time to visit.

The Four-Corners near the fountain. 

Then we stopped at the Cathedral.

Some ambulances were outside the main entrance of the Cathedral and we didn't know what was going on. It looked like they were having some major construction work being done there.

This was outside the Cathedral not sure what it was though.

Exterior of the Cathedral

The side gate

After the ambulances were gone, we went to the entrance where the construction work was taking place and was told to get in through the side door on the next street.

I just took a quick look around the interior of the church and came back out because there was a large group of students in there that was quite noisy.

The driver then took us down to Via Roma, the big street where some ATM machines could be found near San Domenico. DC and MC went inside and got the money and we paid the driver, Paolo, half an hour early so we could spend some time on our own for the rest of the day. 

Our next mission was to find the restrooms. Fortunately we spotted the le Renascente store right next door, so we went in for a toilette break on the 4th floor.

We love checking out the local markets, Mercato Vucciria was right there so it was natural that we went to explore that area. Many stores were selling old "antique" stuff, which looked kind of like things that we would find at estate sales or garage sales at home.

We saw a street vendor selling sandwiches of some sort and he couldn't explain to us what they were, so we just bought one for ChC to try. The man showed us a magazine with pictures of him selling the stuff. Apparently it was a famous Palermo street food. ChC later found out on line that the meat inside the sandwiches was spleen. No wonder there was a strong after taste to it!

Now, that's what fresh meat looks like.

Then we walked back to the port hoping to find some cannoli shops. On the way we were attracted to some shops and ET took the opportunity to get gifts for her family. Rain was coming down pretty hard at some point and we were soaking wet. We finally found a couple of cafes right across from the port and tried some fried rice balls and cannoli to taste. They were OK, but I still think the ones we bought in Taormina were much much better. We could have spent more time exploring the city if it wasn't for the rain.

After getting back on the ship and changed into some dry clothes, we went to the buffet for some lunch. The Garden buffet was packed this afternoon. 

Dinner was at 7:15 this evening because we planned on going to the 9:45 show. But after dinner, we decided to just get ready for bed because we were told that we will have rough seas tonight. The announcement said that we should expect 10-foot waves but then it would get better after midnight.

Chefs parade