Palermo, Sicily
Rough Guide’s description of Palermo starts out “Filthy, frenetic, noisy and at times exciting - the kind of place you either love or hate.” Maybe, true, true and true. We definitely don’t hate it and we didn’t see enough of it to say we love it, but we can say that we wish we’d had another couple days to get to know Palermo better. It is decidely a city with character.
Palermo is a big city: 675,000 people in a very dense environment. Palermo also shows the results of decades of neglect by the Italian government: it is not the cleanest nor best-maintained place; it is run-down in many areas; the traffic is horrendous, made worse by a population that treats traffic laws and driving etiquette as one big joke.
And yet…we saw some amazing things and had some wonderful meals. One thing Palermo has in spades is energy and character; appreciate the energy and character and you’ll appreciate Palermo. We had orginally planned for four nights in Palermo, were talked into staying three nights by a friend, and wish we’d stayed with our original plan. We liked what little we saw of Palermo a lot, and hope that we can get back some day.
Palermo has a main east-west street and a main north-south street. We walked down one until we met the other, turned and walked up to a site we wanted to visit. The streets are largely pedestrianized - though not entirely, creating an …um…exciting situation when a car or bus or delivery vehicle wants to share the road. There are lots of folks on these streets and the energy is undeniable. Some pix:
Traffic in Palermo
In a word: horrendous. The bumper-to-bumper-to-bumper traffic jams move at 40 miles per hour. Double parking: sure, anywhere, anytime. Uncontrolled intersections: no rules for priority, except that if you make eye-contact with another driver, you cede priority to him or her, so no one ever makes eye-contact; they just drive into the intersection.
I think the only rules obeyed are: first, “He who hesitates is lost,” so if you hesitate in entering an intersection you can expect every other car will take priority and you’ll sit there until you gain enough courage to move forward. The second rule is: “There are no rules.” Really. No one seems to bother with any written (if there are any) or unwritten rules. We have seen drivers steam through stop signs; without warning make u-turns from the parking lane of a busy street; and drive the wrong way down one-way streets (which we did once, but only for a block).
Cappella Palatina
The Cappella Palatina (“Palatine Chapel”) is in the royal palace and will knock your socks off. Unless you’ve been to Monreale (see below), because believe it or not, Cappella Palatina is kind of a warm-up for Monreale. But it’s pretty amazing in itself. The Cappella was commissioned by the Norman king of Sicily, Roger II, in 1132. It took only eight years to complete, which seems to me to be a lot of glass-gluing in a short time
Mosaics are a big part of Sicilian art. Rather than paint images and designs, artists use tiny bits of different colored glass to create their work. The result sparkles.
Monreale
If you were impressed by the mosaics of Cappela Palatina, you’re going to love Monreale. This cathedral was commissioned by William II just two years after Cappella Palatina, and completed in four years. Then the fun began; over the next ten years, when artisans created about 60,000 square feet (!!) of mosaics. To say the result is jaw-dropping understates the thing.
Palermo Summary
Crazy city! We liked it a lot and wish we’d had more time there. Great food, lots of interesting things to see, and a city that buzzes with energy. It takes some getting used to - it’s not the cleanest place in the world, and the driving would scare me to death (Gilles did a fabulous job of getting us into and out of town; I suspect he aged about ten years.)