May 26, 2004

We quickly got out of Cefalu in the morning, as we wanted to get to the Cathedral in Monreale early in order to beat the crowds. We stopped for breakfast at a café on the way out of town and then got on the road. Somehow, we managed to pass the exit where we should have gotten off and ended up lost in a part of Palermo called Mondello. Using side streets, we managed, after almost an hour, to redirect ourselves to Monreale.

The town of Monreale (from “Mons Regalis” or Royal Mountain) is on the slopes of Mt. Caputo and 5 miles outside of Palermo. It is famous for its cathedral, the most stunning in Sicily. We couldn’t find a parking space anywhere for a while but I eventually found a spot. I would advise anyone visiting Monreale not to drive. There is very little parking and I didn’t see any public parking lots.

We first visited the cloister of the Benedictine abbey, which, in our opinion, was more impressive and interesting than the church itself. The cloister alone would make Monreale famous. Located next to the cathedral, the cloister contained 228 columns, all with mosaic inlay and carved capitals. The capitals themselves depicted scenes in Sicily's Norman history, complete with knights and kings. Stephanie and I wandered around the cloister square for about an hour admiring all of the detailed columns’ capitals. Emily eventually discovered the fountain in one of the corners of the square so we let her romp around there for a little while. We then headed over to the church.

Externally, the 12th Century Cathedral is not that particularly striking. It’s an odd mix of Arab, Byzantine and Norman styles. The mosaics inside however were stunning. The display of mosaics are said to be the world's second largest, surpassed only by Istanbul's St. Sofia. We’ve seen St. Sofia’s mosaics but can’t imagine that they are any finer than the ones in Monreale. The mosaics cover over 6,000 square meters of the church’s interior surface. We would certainly liked to have spent a nice deal of time looking at them having traveled halfway across the globe; unfortunately, Emily would not allow this. She kept trying to leave the church in order to return to the fountain she had earlier seen in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. We both finally relented and walked Emily to the fountain to play. I returned to the church to look at the mosaics for a brief time. When I returned to the fountain, we decided to return to Palermo.

One other very important note before I move on from Monreale. The cathedral is closed from 1 to 3pm. And if you have time for lunch, we heard good things about Taverna del Pavone. The most highly recommended restaurant in Monreale occupies a wood-fronted building that faces a small, cobblestone square, about a block uphill from the cathedral.

Palermo was just a quick 20 minute drive back down the hill. It was a tough drive. Palermo is a crowded, congested city. It was unlike anything else that we experienced in Sicily. Nothing came close to its noise or traffic or chaos. We had made reservations at a place called Hotel Saucele that the hotel in Catania had recommended. It took us quite a bit of time to find this place in the traffic and because Palermo is a tough city to drive in we decided to return the rental car immediately.

I dropped Emily and Stephanie off at the hotel and then looked for a gas station that sold diesel so that I could return the car filled with gas. I eventually found one near the Central train station at Piazza Giulio Cesare where I believed the car needed to be returned. At the gas station, I learned from the attendant that the car rental agencies were all located at Station Notarbartola. I got back in my car and battled it out with traffic for another 20 minutes. I thought the journey with the rental car was over but when I finally found the car rental office, I saw a sign posted on the door saying that the agency was closed for 3 hours for lunch. I cursed and then parked the car next to the station. I then got a cab back to the hotel where I collapsed on the bed in our hotel room. I certainly would have loved to have passed out at that point but we were left now with just a day and a half to see Palermo. So, off we went.

We made our way to Piazza Giulio Cesare and then turned left on Via Roma, the main North-South artery of downtown Palermo. At the main East-West artery of the city, Via Vittoria Emanuele, we turned right. We were now in the old quarter of La Kalsa, a neighborhood created during the city's Arab period. We walked through this densely populated district of narrow streets and were quickly immersed in local Palermo life.

We were hungry so we walked to the most famous restaurant in Palermo - the Antica Focacceria San Francisco. Frommers says, ”Every kid in Palermo at one time or another has feasted on its stuffed focaccia sandwiches and other inexpensive eats. High ceilings and marble floors evoke the era in which the eatery was born. The food has changed little since it’s founding in 1834. They still serve ‘panino con la milza’ (a bread roll stuffed with slices of boiled spleen and melted cheese). The ‘panelle’ (deep-fried garbanzo bean fritters) are marvelous fare, as are the ‘arancini di riso’ (rice balls stuffed with tomatoes and peas or with melted mozzarella). The specialty is ‘focaccia farcita’ (flat pizza baked with various fillings). Or try the ‘sfincione’ (a thick slab of pizza with onions, artichokes, tomatoes, and anchovies). Daily 10am-midnight.” No trip to Palermo is complete without a visit to this restaurant.

View image of Antica Foccaceria San Francisco

In order to try everything that had been recommended – and it all sounded so good - we ordered side dish portions only. Basically, we pointed to everything in the prior paragraph and asked for “1 of each.” The waiter was used to this and he told us that he’d do the ordering for us. First out was the boiled spleen sandwich. Obviously, this didn’t sound appetizing but the sandwich was great and I would have ordered another but we knew we’d have a lot of food coming. Next out were the rice balls and fritters. After that came the focaccia. We savored every dish. Everything was fantastic. Looking around, even throwing out the fact that the food was so good, we knew why this place was so popular. The restaurant is set in the middle of an attractive little square next to San Francisco d’Assisi church. Emily liked the place too as it was also populated by a large group of pigeons that she got to chase.

We left very full and very happy. We now had to go return the car so we got in a cab and returned to Notarbartola Station. We then decided to do some shopping in the area around the station. The northern part of the central town is a pleasant area with tree-lined streets and upscale shops. We primarily concentrated on stores on or near Viale della Liberta. After some looking but no buying we stopped in at the Giardino Inglese (English Gardens), a park with gardens and fountains. Emily immediately saw that there was a small kiddie amusement park and we spent a couple hours with her on some rides. Emily really liked a 3-story inflatable gym and we had to tear her away so we could continue shopping. We actually saw several more of these kiddie parks in Palermo but always made sure to distract her attention so we’d have time to visit some of the city’s sites.

We continued walking and shopping down Viale delle Liberta. Emily was in good spirits and rode the walk on my shoulders. On this trip, she spent as much time on my shoulders as she did walking on her own. It got a bit cooler as dusk fell. Stephanie also started to pick up her pace as we discovered that most of the shops closed at 8pm. We finished up the shopping portion of our day at Rinascente, a department chain store that we visited last year in Rome.

We then did a little night sightseeing work by stopping at a few nearby “Quattro Canti”-area monuments. The “Quattro Canti” is located at the intersection of Via Maqueda and Via Emanuele. The intersection is shaped like an octagon and is filled with four Baroque palazzo-type facades. Each façade has a fountain built into it and each one represents a season. I have a great photo of an exhausted-looking Stephanie splayed out on the street surrounded by shopping bags.

We walked first to Piazza Pretoria where we half-admired an amazingly ornate and whimsical 16th Century fountain that was initially built as a garden ornament for a Palermo palazzo. I say half-admired because the fountain was covered in scaffolding. Next we visited tiny Piazza Bellini where we looked at the 3 small churches of Santa Catarina, La Martorana and San Cataldo. San Cataldo was built during the Norman period in the 12th Century and looks like a Moorish fort. It’s 3 characteristic red domes show up on almost every Palermo postcard. But the most interesting of the 3 churches was the 12th Century La Martorana with its tiny bell tower. The bell tower had been freestanding until the 16th century when it was connected to the church.

We next wandered around the Kalsa district mostly because we were just wandering and didn’t have a specific destination in mind. We decided that we would go to dinner and walked back to the area around Antica Focacceria. Enoteca Picone at Via G. Marconi 36 had been recommended to us. We stopped in but the place was full. We walked around the area but had a difficult time finding anything else appealing. I was surprised at the dearth of restaurants in Palermo. I had noted this earlier in the day when we were in the English Gardens area. Even the guidebooks only contain a few restaurants. It seems strange that there should be so few restaurants in a city this size. Perhaps we were overlooking something? Eventually we stumbled upon a quaint little restaurant called Osteria dei Vespri where elegantly set and candlelit outdoor tables spilled into Piazza Croce dei Vespri. The food was very good and we called it a night after dinner.