Palermo

According to the guidebook, our first full day in Palermo appeared to be a day with lots of free time. We were a bit disappointed at that, as it is not characteristic of these trips. However, our first full day in Palermo turned out to be a very full day, despite the appearance of the published schedule.

Breakfast was quite good, and was followed by the mandatory orientation meeting. Though she is an experienced guide, this will be the first Overseas Adventure Travel tour for our Trip Experience Leader, Flaminia. So we are joined, at least for the first few days, buy Pietro from the OAT regional office. Introductions were done all around, which was good, because we're still struggling to remember everyone's name.

Immediately after orientation, we were to take a walking tour of the area. Often, these are just to help us find our way around the neighborhood near the hotel. But since our neighborhood here is the old historical city of Palermo, we had a local guide who took us on a much more extensive tour.

Four Corners panorama

We saw again some of the sites we had visited on our own the evening before, but now with much more information. In fact, we were sort of on information overload. For example, we learned that the statues on the Four Corners represented three sets of four -- four Roman gods, four Spanish kings from the 16th & 17th centuries (Spain ruled Sicily when the Four Corners was built in the 17th century), and four saints.

"The Fountain of Shame"

We learned that the fountain we had visited in front of the city hall is known locally as "the fountain of shame," because it was imported from Florence where the statues were carved in a Renaissance neoclassical style. That means a lot of nude gods and goddesses. But the fountain was placed in a square that not only included city hall, but also a convent on one side and a monastery on the other side. Apparently the monks and nuns found it shameful.

Church of Saint Cataldo

Our guide took us behind city hall, where we had not ventured before, to show us an 11th century church that Norman rulers of Sicily had commissioned from Arab architects. The Church of Saint Cataldo looks very much like a mosque, rather than a church. We later visited inside on our own (a €5 donation was more than the visit was worth, but it was still quite fascinating).

According to our guide, a good deal of money intended for reconstruction after WW II "wound up in the wrong pocket." The mafia and organized crime in Sicily are legendary. So we were shown several buildings that still remain as bombed out shells, even now, going on 80 years after the war.

Amazingly, some of these bombed out shells are inhabited. Refugees from Africa have been this country's immigration problem, and many have squatted in these abandoned shells. It is only now, with EU and UNESCO redevelopment money coming into this historic area, that these buildings are being rebuilt.

At the cathedral, we were able to see even more evidence of the "16 layers" of Sicilian history. Nothing here represents the Phoenician or Greek periods. But the many segments of the cathedral clearly show Roman, Byzantine, Arabic, Norman, and Spanish influences. Beyond these, Baroque, neoclassical, and neogothic styles are evident.

On the interior, we visited a side altar devoted to Saint Rosalia, the patron saint of Palermo. We got the entire story, in significant detail, but I'll spare you. If you want to know, the link is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Rosalia   The short story is that she lived and died in the 12th century, but supposedly came to the aid of the city supernaturally during an episode of plague in the 17th century. More recently, the faithful sought her aid during the Covid pandemic. But even if you don't buy all of that, her altar is pretty impressive: It's made of about a half ton of pure silver!

Later, we learned that Rosalia has become something of a symbol for feminists, even if they are not religious.

Also on the inside, we saw a side altar devoted to a much more modern saint, a priest who was martyred in 2003 because he stood up to the local mafia.

The local guide departed after the cathedral, and Flaminia took over. She took us to visit a puppet theater, where we met third and fourth generation puppeteers. They explained that, before movies and television, puppet shows were a main form of entertainment. We got to try out one of the marionettes and discovered that they are heavy and not as easy to manipulate as the pros make it appear.

Flaminia was scheduled to show us something about street food. Lunch was supposed to be "on our own" today, so we assumed that she would just be showing us an area where we could eat. Instead, we went to a street cafe and sat down. The trays of food just kept coming. It was delicious.

The rest of the afternoon really was free, as advertised. We used the time, first, to walk to the end of the historical district to see one of the remaining gates to the old city wall. Then we went back and visit the Church of Saint Cataldo, as mentioned above.

In addition, we explored some of the narrow side streets and interacted with some locals in a piazza who were preparing decorations for a religious festival coming up next week. Finally, we sat down for drinks at a sidewalk bar on a very busy tourist pedestrian street that was great for people watching.

Just before 6 p.m. we met the group once again for tuk-tuk rides. There must be some unwritten rule that every OAT trip must include a ride in one of these loud, stinking, two-cycle engine tricycles. I have to admit that they took us on some narrow back streets that no bus could have navigated, and they were undoubtedly safer than riding motorcycles here. The motorcycle drivers believe that all traffic laws are mere suggestions.

Our tub-tuk excursion took us to an area where murals of various styles have been commissioned by the city to help cover urban blight. We also stumbled into a wedding party that was getting photos taken near one of the murals. We saw a homeless encampment, and we got a second dose of Saint Rosalia when we visited a giant parade float which is used on her festival day each summer.

The tub-tuks finally dropped us at the restaurant for our official welcome dinner. The food was excellent. Walking back to the hotel, we were amazed at the nightlife in the area. Crowds of locals were even larger than the crowds of tourists at the local nightspots and in the streets. But we are not really night people, and jet lag is still dragging us down, so we were back to the hotel and in bed by 10 p.m.