Day 56 Tuesday 25th May
Stinking rubbish
HELLO MY DARLING BLOGEES, Many apologies for the long delay in posting these late arrivals. We have been in an area of poor connectivity so this is a quick catch up with news so far. Lots more on the way you poor long suffering things.
Day 56 Tuesday 25th May (Andys log)
An interminable three-hour bus ride into and out of the city to visit the Norman cathedral and hill town of Monreale. Our dedication and patience is rewarded when we discover they have initiated a new policy (that day) of closing for lunch.!X?!!!X
Nearby the cloisters remain open and are a shaded, peaceful haven of graceful beauty. Panoramic views over Palermo are amazing. After a leisurely coffee we join the tide of tourists ready to flood into the cathedral. Towering above our heads deep in the gloom are the staggering 12c mosaics, crafted by Byzantine artists, depicting the creation and other scenes from the Old Testament.
A German tourist next to me put a euro into what looks like a condom machine (in a church?) and lo there is light, the mosaic’s reveal their true dazzling brilliance, for sixty seconds and then once more consigned to the gloom.
Back to the city and the ‘galleria d Art moderne’ for some secular culture. The deserted gallery hosts a small collection of mainly 19th Century landscapes depicting many of the places we have been. The painting show a pristine Sicily and I pause to consider that over one hundred years ago before the invention of plastic and packaging these areas would have been immaculate, now they are polluted with garbage blown by the fierce winds into every corner of every field. The whole of the south of Italy seems to be engulfed in a rising tide of litter and I guess the locals, so used to it, just don’t see it.
Take the wrong bus home and have to walk 3k back to the campsite. The walk is along the coast, it is a beautiful evening and the walk only takes 35 minutes so why complain. You never know what’s around the next corner apart from another pile of stinking rubbish of course.
Stinking rubbish
HELLO MY DARLING BLOGEES, Many apologies for the long delay in posting these late arrivals. We have been in an area of poor connectivity so this is a quick catch up with news so far. Lots more on the way you poor long suffering things.
Day 56 Tuesday 25th May (Andys log)
An interminable three-hour bus ride into and out of the city to visit the Norman cathedral and hill town of Monreale. Our dedication and patience is rewarded when we discover they have initiated a new policy (that day) of closing for lunch.!X?!!!X
Nearby the cloisters remain open and are a shaded, peaceful haven of graceful beauty. Panoramic views over Palermo are amazing. After a leisurely coffee we join the tide of tourists ready to flood into the cathedral. Towering above our heads deep in the gloom are the staggering 12c mosaics, crafted by Byzantine artists, depicting the creation and other scenes from the Old Testament.
A German tourist next to me put a euro into what looks like a condom machine (in a church?) and lo there is light, the mosaic’s reveal their true dazzling brilliance, for sixty seconds and then once more consigned to the gloom.
Back to the city and the ‘galleria d Art moderne’ for some secular culture. The deserted gallery hosts a small collection of mainly 19th Century landscapes depicting many of the places we have been. The painting show a pristine Sicily and I pause to consider that over one hundred years ago before the invention of plastic and packaging these areas would have been immaculate, now they are polluted with garbage blown by the fierce winds into every corner of every field. The whole of the south of Italy seems to be engulfed in a rising tide of litter and I guess the locals, so used to it, just don’t see it.
Take the wrong bus home and have to walk 3k back to the campsite. The walk is along the coast, it is a beautiful evening and the walk only takes 35 minutes so why complain. You never know what’s around the next corner apart from another pile of stinking rubbish of course.
Stunning 12th C mosaics in Mon Reale.
Panoramo of Palermo and the sea.
The Benadictine Cloisters from 1174.
I love the Norman mosaics! But are they Norman - ie built by northern french invaders - of just of that period?
ReplyDeleteH