Day 55 (andys log)

Day 55 Monday 24th May.
Una Palermo Blanca.

After our arrival yesterday there is absolutely no question of driving in Palermo. Taking the bus everywhere means crawling along at a snails pace, there is no rapid transport system here. After a hair-raising bus trip to the centre, Palermo proves to be a surprisingly charming city. Looking beyond the traffic choked chaos and noise and you find long avenues of crumbling baroque palaces emanating faded grandeur and exciting glimpses of long streets teeming with vibrant market stalls. We start with the churches around the ‘Quatto canti’, over the top baroque no inch of surface is unadorned, in a floor to ceiling frenzy of decoration. The Arab influence is apparent in the Byzantine chapel of ‘la Martorana’ fabulous mosaics flooded with light. The Normans drove the Saracens from Sicily and took over the palaces so our next stop is the Normanni palace, the seat of Sicily’s regional parliament. We get a whistle stop tour through the state apartments the legendary mosaic hunting scenes pass bye in a blur as our condescending Sicilian rock chick tour guide, heals clattering faster than her staccato Italian, rushes us through each room, Perhaps there is some rapid transport in this city.

Tiny, unadorned and rather beautifull.San Cataldo.
San Giuseppe dei Teatini. Baroque rocks.

Yours truly outside La Martorana.