Palermo

Like those before us, I believe we have successfully conquered Sicily! A map of our road trip and adventures throughout the island:



We woke up to damp laundry and true to grandma form, my mom started to iron to help dry the clothes. I also used a hair dryer to dry the thicker cottons, seams, sleeves, and etc that needed a little help.

After storing our luggage, Justin ordered us an Uber to Bar Vabres. His friend’s cousin’s café where we enjoyed various arancini balls filled with beef, eggplant, and ham. We had coffees and cappuccinos and a tasty pastry filled with ricotta cheese. It wasn’t in the best neighborhood, but it sure felt local with the fish butcher serving up tuna steaks off a truck and lots of people visiting the café and sitting around. Our breakfast:



We then walked over to the Palermo Central train station to pick up a bus and watched the transit cop argue with an old man who hadn’t paid his fare. My mom said it felt very Italian and local once again.

After a few stops and walking for about 5 minutes, we arrived at Quattro Canti, considered the symbolic crossroads at the old center of the city:





There were so many school groups, so we knew we were in the right “touristy” area. We also saw Fontana Pretoria which wasn’t running, but it has nude statues of nymphs, humans, mermaids, and satyrs. It’s nicknamed the square of shame or Piazza della vergogna, representing the surrounding supposed historical corruption:



About a block away was Piazza Bellini which includes the Teatro Bellini, named after the composer Vincenzo Bellini:



In walking around old town and because we had no agenda, I followed a tour group into here which ended up being a library:



We then sat outside the Duomo or Cathedral and I explained to my mom there was a statue of Saint Rosalie, the patron saint of Palermo in the center of this plaza:



We decided to pop into the cathedral:



Another statue of what I presume to be Saint Rosalie:



We then continued our walk through Villa Bonanno and we decided to sit in a café for a respite from the Sicilian sun and some gelato and juice:



The park and café were in front of Palazzo dei Normanni (Palace of the Normans) which is the oldest European royal residence and the place of the Sicilian parliament:









We entered so we could see the Palatine Chapel which has Byzantine mosaics like we saw in Monreale yesterday:









Then we decided to take a bus after Justin bought tickets from a local tobacco shop and head to Piazza Verdi to visit Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Italy. It’s also known for the famous assassination scene in the Godfather:





Inside was a café where we enjoyed iced coffees, juice, and WiFi on their comfy couches. We eventually left and were slow moving as we were killing time during the day. We took a bus to La Vuccirìa which is a market / bazaar area, but was pretty much shutdown for the day. However, since it was a touristy area, we decided we would eat dinner here.

We chose Canopia where they had touristy foods, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. We had caprese salad, seafood carbonara, pasta alla Norma, fried seafood, and tiramisu. The fried seafood was so tasty with the caper mayonnaise, we ordered a second one. Collage below:



We returned to the hotel by bus and on the bus, we ran into a middle-aged Korean couple that had been on our plane from Malta to Catania and at Siracusa Archaeological Park. We finally had a conversation with them and learned they were from Toronto and taking the bus all over Sicily. I recognized the woman because she wore socks with her sandals.

In order to make our way to the Amalfi coast, we could have taken an overnight ferry or train or fly. But in flying, we would come into Naples and then go down the coast and have to come back up again. So I opted for the overnight train which I’ve never done before. We retrieved our bags from our hotel and Uber’ed to the train station. We will arrive in Salerno a little after 7 am and then we will make our way up the coast via rental car.

Here’s a map of the route and some pictures from our intercity night train. Justin protested both the photos and the experience:







So we’re settled in on our private triple bunk room on our overnight train which will take 11 hours. Buona Notte!

Monreale

At our farm stay, Miriam served us a lovely breakfast outside which included fresh pear juice, crudo ham, and fried eggs that came from her boyfriend’s farm which has ten hens. We all agreed, the food was so fresh and natural, and we enjoyed our one night stay.

One of our options for today was to visit Segesta Archaeological park which has a temple and theater. I picked the farm stay as it was close, but also because it had a family room with three beds. But as you wind through the farm roads to the main road, you can actually see the temple, so we opted to enjoy the view and skip the visit. Some of those photos are from yesterday as we enjoyed the view yesterday as well:







In skipping the temple visit, our agenda was to visit Monreale which is a town on Monte Caputo, about 30 minutes outside of Palermo and about 1 hour from Segesta. Photos from our drive including this mini-Mercedes that I thought was funny and cute:





When we arrived in Monreale, we parked like a true Italian - folks seem to park any which way!



We then walked up the hill and through the arch to the Cathedral which was being visited by many school groups:







The Cathedral is an example of Norman architecture and considered one of the most important sites of Italy - it is absolutely gilded with Byzantine-style mosaics:











We entered the baroque chapel:





The tombs of William I and the II, kings of Sicily, are here as well:



There was a small museum:



And a view of the cloisters:



After retrieving the car, we headed to Mondello, a seaside district and where Justin’s friend’s cousin’s friend was expecting us. He has several restaurants and we ate at D2 Daniels after finding free parking. A view of the water from the restaurant:



And our lunch which included a Sicilian pizza, salad with salmon tartare, linguini with sea urchin, and spaghetti with seafood:



After lunch, we filled the rental car tank and drove into Palermo where we checked into Palazzo Planeta where I had booked a two bedroom apartment. We dropped off the luggage and returned the rental car about ten minutes away. The first and only order of business was to do some laundry and figure out the washing machine. Thank goodness for YouTube and the help of friends who fretted with a similar machine before. The big discovery though is realizing it only washes and doesn’t dry as southern Europe just hangs their wash. A photo of the knob that is not very intuitive:



Indeed, our first night in the capital of Sicily is low key, but we enjoyed taking a break from the car and taking it easy before our day in Palermo!

Sicilian Costa

Some morning snaps from our farm stay:





We enjoyed breakfast and headed west about 30 minutes to Agrigento which apparently has been named the Italian capital of culture for 2025.

However, our goal was to visit the Valley of the Temples or the Valle dei Templi which is one of the main attractions of Sicily and one of the largest archaeological parks in Europe. It’s not really in a valley, but located on a ridge and surrounded by valleys.

We parked at the east entrance and we’re pretty sure the man behind us in the ticket line sat next to us at dinner on Ortigia Island in Siracusa.

The first temple was the Temple of Giunone dedicated to Juno or Hera:









Here’s our Temple selfie:



The tourist route is quite linear and you walk along the ridge viewing the valley and ocean while walking through some tree groves. You also see various niches in walls and on the ground used as catacombs:







The highlight was definitely the Temple of Concordia which is incredibly intact:















And here’s our Temple selfie:



The last major temple was the Temple of Ercole or Heracles:





There were more ruins and a villa built by a British soldier, but as the route was linear, we decided to head back to the east entrance. I overheard a tour guide explaining how the tour buses will meet them at the west exit, so they didn’t have to double back. We offered for Mama Kim to rest at the west exit while we returned to retrieve the rental car and drive around, but she wanted to walk back with us - she was a real trooper.

As we neared the parking lot, we heard a car with a honking horn playing the Godfather theme song. I later learned Justin recorded a video as he went ahead to pay for parking and had asked them to play it again. He remarked to me “how do you tell me you’re in Sicily without telling me?” We had a good chuckle.

We then drive about 20 minutes west and down to the beach. We parked on a hill and navigated some steep steps. The water was so blue and we enjoyed some refreshments, snacks, and of course an arancini ball at a shack:







Our goal here was to see the Scala dei Turchi or “Turkish Steps”. This too was apparently in the show “Inspector Montalbano”, but also is very Instagrammable. However, we opted not to climb the steps for the pure white background.





As I explained our itinerary and possibilities the day before, the family said they definitely wanted to see the temple at Selinunte which is on the coast. I told them I thought they’d be temple-d out and I was right. So instead of stopping on the way to our next farm stay, we headed straight there which took less than two hours. A picture from the drive:



We were given explicit instructions on how to find our next farm stay and had to drive through a vineyard for about 20 minutes after the main road. It’s called Agriturismo Tenute Pispisa Segesta and according to the lovely Miriam who took care of us, has been in their family for hundreds of years. The restaurant started first and they later added the lodging.

They grow wine, olive oil, and various vegetables. She also said it’s popular with locals as proven by the very large first communion party that was being held upon our arrival. There were many young children running around, one of whom I think was asking me if I was going into the pool, but I responded I couldn’t speak Italian. Some photos of the property:







The WiFi is a little spotty, so my mom and I headed out to see if we could enjoy the Segestan thermal baths (also called Polle del Crimiso). They are natural hydrothermal springs and the sulfur is supposed to be very healing. We found the fancy club that pipes in the water into the concrete pool, but you have to pay €18 per person which my mom did not want to do for the less than 30 minutes we planned to be there. But we were really in search of the natural rock pools where the locals go for free.

Although Miriam tried to explain to me as well as an Italian man we saw, I managed to find myself in the middle of a farm. But I routed back and figured out the “off the beaten path” parking as we saw several campers and people changing out of their bathing suits on the road. My mom and I ventured a little bit, but when we learned it was about another ten more minutes, we decided to head back because we had dinner reservations at the farm. What an adventure though and I now know how to get there if I ever return.

For dinner, we enjoyed various crostini, eggplant caponata, busiata pastas, Sicilian meat rolls, and salad. All very fresh and delicious:



We enjoyed chatting with Miriam some more as she explained she learned her English by interacting with guests and was impressed that Justin only studied one year of Italian in college. I manage to end up speaking Spanish to folks who don’t speak English, but we’re definitely getting by!