Wednesday, 22 October

Wow! Has it really been a week since our last entry? And is this really our last full day in Sicily (and Italy?) We did indeed attempt to live the “slow life” and were reasonably successful at it but I guess ultimately, time still flies by when having fun. We were sort of like tourists in those first few days of this adventure, not having spent any time at a vineyard or winery nor having visited either Gaiole in Chianti or Orvieto but even then, it was not go-go-go every day. Ortona and Monteferrante with the cousins was quite relaxing except for the effort of communicating! But it wasn’t that difficult.

While falling into the slow life quite comfortably, we still had two tourist-type objectives for which we transitioned to Naples and then Sicily: Herculaneum and Pompeii from Napoli and Segesta and Erice from Palermo, not to overlook seeing our friend Salvo, our fruit & veggie man, in Palermo. Since Segesta a week and a half ago, siamo stati Siciliani (we’ve been Sicilian.) There has been the walk to the panaficio each morning to pick up fresh (and warm) bread (Palermo bread is our favorite bar none) which might also require a stop for due caffè and a cornetto or donut. There have been the one and a half to two hour lunches or dinners depending on our day. We’ve been able to continue with our heart and blood supplements – vino rosso. We’ve even watched the ships come in to the port, feet up and the afternoon sun warming us. Oh, and just when you think things can’t get any better, the weather here has been marvelous. 65-68º in the early morning, 73-75º in the afternoon, and on some, but very few days, rain showers for maybe 30 minutes either in the early morning or late afternoon. Perfetto! This is exactly what we planned. Start in the North (Tuscany) and move South (Sicily) as the temperatures begin their transition into the Autumn season.

Recall how we mentioned that many of the large buildings here (and in other cities for that matter) are called palazzi or palaces. We also said they often have inner courtyards or quadrangles. Two we passed while walking here in Palermo had their big giant doors open so we snapped photos of their interiors. Remember, ground floor offices, spaces or apartments might include restaurants, shops, a lottery office, a drug store or the entrance to living apartments on the upper floors. Most have parking on the inside and off the street.

We’ve continued to do a lot of walking these past two weeks. It takes us ten minutes to get up to Via Roma, one of the main drags into Centro Storico, the historic center of Palermo and then 10-15 to actually enter the city center. Or, we can take those same 10 minutes to Via Roma and catch the 101 or 102 bus into the town center. We can also do as we often did and not take any direct route at all, walking through innumerable alleys and side streets to reach our destinations, observing the many building facades, watching and listening to residents, merchants and those ever present tourists. And there is always a bar, cafe, restaurant, clothing store or most importantly, a panificio (bakery) or pasticceria (pasta store) within a few steps.

Our landmark for getting off the bus has mostly been the huge post office and telegraph building. Last Saturday, we jumped off at the post office, cut the diagonal alley behind the building and come upon one of those cute alleys, lined with vendor tents and after a hundred yards or so, reached an obstacle course of tables, chairs and umbrellas on the alley. In other words, six or so restaurants. We were solicited to sit for lunch but passed through to hit up a couple of clothing stores. To return to the apartment, we took the same alley and ended up eating at the next to last restaurant on the row – Trattoria Tipica Siciliana. We liked the waiter who had hit on us on the way up initially.

Okay, there was a test! Did you notice anything unusual, unique, weird about the two photos above? Look closely at the plates. Yes, they were single plates when served.

On our walks, we began coming across a spectacle we had seen Tokyo and other parts of Japan – vending machines. You can buy hot coffee, beer, soft drinks and food in vending machines on the street there and we are seeing the same here. However, nothing will top this next photo:

We passed this set of steps and outside cookery every day we went downtown. You see the smoke slightly obscuring your vision down Via Roma and then next get hit with the wonderful aroma of food being grilled and roasted. The area is Mercato Vucciria. These folk are out every day and their endeavors only add to the enticing atmosphere of Palermo.

This Tuesday, while “downtown” still checking out clothing stores and markets, we reached the lunch hour, about 1:00 PM, and just picked a restaurant with tables in the street. Once again, one of the waiters enticed us to take a table and we both ordered a spaghetti, along with Palermo bread and a carafe of Sicilian red wine.

We then headed over to the lungomare or coast line along the Bay of Palermo overlooking the Tyrrenian Sea. We plopped down on a bench on top of the sea wall and spent an hour or so basking in the sun, cooled by a very nice breeze. There was at least one fisherman standing on the rocks and several sailboats out in the bay, apparently getting some sailing lessons as we watched. There was also a ferry coming in to port from Naples, we guessed.

After our hour of soaking up the sun and breezes, we continued our walk around the large park there at the lungomare and then headed back to the apartment. Since we had seen two weddings and possibly a funeral service at the church about 100 yards from the apartment, we snapped a picture. It is huge and very tall, almost as big as some of the cathedrals we have visited. This is La Chiesa Santa Teresa alla Kalsa. Kalsa is one of the oldest historic neighborhoods in Palermo and we are staying. Kalsa comes from the Arabic “al-Khalisa” (“the chosen one”) from when the Arabs ran this neighborhood. An emir apparently lived in and ruled from this area.

On our walks to and from the sea and that Mura delle Cattive or “Wall of the Prisoners” which we explained in an earlier blog, we would see the wall and mural below. We since learned that although the Wall provided a place for widows to walk and observe the sea without being exposed to the wealthy who lived in the buildings, “prisoners” was meant to imply “prisoners of mourning” as they had lost their sailor husbands. Our little wall mural appears to provide a similar, less than happy, event.

From our walks up to the Mail Boxes, etc. store today, a couple of thoughts related to home popped up. The first relates to how few of us, and almost no one in the United States, can parallel park any more. Seems these guys got it down.

And then there is a big holiday rapidly approaching. Apparently there are no rules about when one can put up holiday decorations here in Palermo.

Panelle are tasty and delicious chickpea flour pancakes, typical of Palermo where they are consumed as street food. I know this because the gal at the Mail Boxes, etc. store told me about them. We spent a lot of time at their store you know, shipping stuff back home!!! Well we got to know her very well and she was so sweet. Today was the last day of our shipments and I brought her a tray of goodies from the Paneficio. Long story short – their internet went down in the morning and we couldn’t ship the package so we went back in the afternoon and all was well. She asked us if we heard about Arancino which is a specialty of Sicily – I said yes but i don’t like them. Then she asked us if we had had Panelle or Crocchè which are other specialties of Palermo. Panelle are little chickpea flower pancakes and Crocchè are little oval-shaped potato fritters made with chickpea flour, milk, peanut oil, parsley, salt, and starchy potato. Well I did not know about these so she sent her guy next door and they made them fresh and walla! They were pretty darn good.

Now I ask you, who makes friends with the Mail Boxes, etc. place? Well obviously we do! See what happens when you are nice to people – the love you right back.

Okay, we are now wrapping things up here. Most of our clothes and other sundry items went out from Mail Boxes, etc., via UPS. Tomorrow, we catch the bus out to the airport at 6:30 and then fly out of Palermo at 9:20, bound for Istanbul. We then change planes and fly on home to Atlanta, arriving at 7:45 PM. It’s been an awesome viaggio, we accomplished all our objectives and are ready to return home.

Until our next adventure, ciao, ciao.