On April 11th I took a 6am flight to Palermo, Sicily to begin a week and a half of travels for Semana Santa (aka Holy Week). As soon as I got off the airplane, I was overwhelmed by the view of the mountains and the sea. I spent the morning walking around and looking for a cafe with wifi so I could l find my hostel. I can't count the number of people who saw me on the street and yelled, "Hello! Do you speak English?"
The port in Palermo was one of my favorite places. The landscape of the city is amazing with the height of the mountains in one direction and the distance of where the horizon meets the sea in the other.
I hadn't done much research on where to go or what to see before I arrived in Palermo, so I asked the people who worked at my hostel what they recommended. This is Teatro Massimo and apparently it is the largest opera house in Italy.
Next I headed to the Cathedral of Palermo.
Then I made my way to the Norman Palace. Honestly, the building wasn't that remarkable and I didn't even take a picture of it (does that make me sound snobby?). But there was a lovely view of the city. Palermo is an interesting city because it is absolutely beautiful, but it is also very dirty.
This is Piazza San Domenico which is down the street from the hostel I stayed at.
On Saturday there was a huge street market. I went with Maria, a girl from Greece that was staying at my hostel until she found an apartment. Maria also studied in Porto, Portugal, and gave me some recommendations for my trip last weekend (more on that later).
Maria told me I had to try the aracina bomba, which is a fried rice ball. I had a bomba filled with ham and cheese. It was delicious and filling and I'm glad I don't live in Sicily because I would probably eat my weight in bombas.
I was also told to try the cannoli at Ferro di Cavallo. And I'm glad I did. The food was great and one of the waiters that worked there studied in Madrid and spoke Spanish. Almost everyone I met in Palermo was nice and helpful. And even though I couldn't understand anything they were saying, they kept trying to answer my question, point me in the right direction, or find someone who spoke English.
That night I headed to the train station to take the night train to Rome. I hardly slept, partly because I was jostled awake every stop we made and partly because I was just too damn excited.
No comments:
Post a Comment