Our first full day of the Rick Steves tour begins with a golden city view seen from the rooftop breakfast room of Hotel Amabasciatori. The three distant peaks, which are referred to as the three sisters, are named Mt San Salvatore, Pizzo Antenna Grande, and Pizzo Carbonara.
Jackie is our charming local guide. Local guides lead our group and disseminate information via our "Whisper" transmitters. Jackie was fun, dramatic, and very knowledgeable. Tommaso comes with us to make sure we stick together.
Jackie showed us the highlights and told us about the history of different sights around Palermo. The Vucciria Market isn't as extensive or authentic as the The Ballarò Market that Bob and I previously enjoyed.
Do you see the plastic sheets hanging over the balconies in the background? We had a scattering of rain and the plastic covers are used to shield the clean clothes hanging out to dry.
There are many churches in Palermo, and it seems as if there is one or two on every block. If you looked at previous posts, we seldom pass up an opportunity to view their magnificence. I often wonder where the money came from to build them. Just when I thought a church couldn't get more spectacular, we pop into the Church of the Immaculate Conception. One would never guess the lavish Baroque interior that lay behind the plain exterior.
The magnificent Monreale Cathedral requires a short bus ride to a hillside six miles west of Palermo. The Norman cathedral was built between 1174 and 1189. It's an amalgamation of Byzantine, Norman and Arab elements in a Romanesque building. Inside are intricate golden mosaics that impressively illustrate Bible stories.
Perhaps the quirkiest sight in Palermo is the crypt of its Capuchin monastery. Rick Steves gives this two out of three triangles. Since we had seen just about everything we wanted to see, we took the three-mile round trip walk. There were mummified bodies in various stages of decay with many dressed in their funereal best. There was a route to follow, all the while surrounded by bodies hanging and lying on display. It's a ghoulish thing to walk through, but we didn't find it too disturbing. No photos allowed.
I'll end with a colorful Trinicria, the symbol of Italy. The mythical head of Medusa is surrounded by three legs of the central figure, which represent a trinacria, or triangle (or Trinity). They also stand for the island's three corners: Peloro (northeast), Passero (southeast), and Lilibeo (west).
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