Picture it - Sicily, 2019

After our day at sea, we pulled into port in Palermo, Sicily.  Sicily is a triangular little island often referred to as the "football" that Italy is kicking.  Sicily is well known for its mob ties, as made famous, in part, by the Godfather movies.  It also has the catacombs.  Still babying my foot and Chrissy not being overly interested in mobsters and dead people, we took a tour with a little less walking, so we were mostly on the bus driving past things.  This wasn't a bad thing, since it was raining or overcast most of the day.

In many ways, the island made me think more of Ecuador than Europe. The architecture of the buildings was very similar to Guayaquil or Quito and the shops spilling over with their wares, seemingly more reserved for the shopkeeper than the shopper were two of the primary things.

The roads were exceptionally narrow and very windy, reminding me of the mountainous roads in Colombia or some of the minor mountainous roads in Ecuador.  Oncoming traffic had to stop for vehicles (not just buses) to take the switchback curves.  At one point, a bicyclist had to dismount and pull the bicycle onto the grass so our bus could make the curve.  These drivers were awesome, though, and were able to fit two buses side by side with only inches between on the straight segments, though.

Our first stop was at the top of the hill, where we saw the Santuario di Santa Rosalia.  Santa Rosalia is considered the Patroness of Palermo.  Legend has it that she became a hermit in the cave here and died somewhere between 1160 and 1170.  When the plague hit in 1624, a sick lady had a vision, and after climbing the hill and drinking water dripping out of it off a rock, she got well.  She had a vision to excavate, and excavate the city did.  Later, after Santa Rosalia's bones were discovered but before they were consecrated, a man went up the hill to commit suicide.  He suddenly had a vision that if the bones would be carried through the city and a certain song sung, the plague would be ended.  The story says that a few days after this procession, the plague was eradicated from Palermo.  This cave has become a shrine to Santa Rosalia,  with a building facade built right onto the cliffs of the cave, and the annual procession of Santa Rosalia is one of the highlights of Sicilian culture.  Knowing that Rome was coming up and wanting to try a few stairs, I gave it a try getting up to the sanctuary.  With significant help from Chrissy, I made it!  The sanctuary was much prettier than my pictures can do justice of.  It was dark, and I just haven't learned how to take good shots of lighted things in dark places.

The building, built right into the cliff doesn't extend all the way to the cave, and the water runs through the sanctuary on the floor.

I had significant help, but yes, I did make it up and down those steps in that boot!  Thank you, Chrissy!

When we got off the hill, the road widened out, and another memory of Ecuador showed up.  I know these "tree tunnels" aren't uncommon, but this one reminded me more of the one in Puerto Lopez in the rainy season than any others that I have seen in my travels.

After driving through town a bit, we stopped by a historical restaurant and bath house which is built out on the sea, connected to land by a boardwalk.  It wasn't open, but it's apparently of some significance as the place where kings have dined.  The beach was beautiful, but it was cold and I was wearing that CAM boot, so I was not able to stick my toes in the sea.

After looking at the restaurant and beach, we drove around a little more, and I got some really crappy pictures of some really lovely buildings.  Here is the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi.

The Teatro Massimo, where Mosca shoots Michael, killing Mary in the Godfather III.

Two of the buildings that make up the Piazza Quattro Canti (Four Corners Plaza)

The Fontana Pretoria, built in Florence and moved to Palermo

One of the open-air markets

Another of the minor city gates

Porta Nuovo, the main gate of Palermo, designed in celebration of Charles V's defeat of the Tunis.  The figures on each side represent the defeated Moors, two with their arms tied up and two with their arms cut off.

We then arrived at the Palermo Cathedral.  I love an old cathedral, and this one didn't disappoint, with many tombs and historical items and even the twelve signs of the zodiac in tiles on the floor.

Once we finished touring the cathedral, Chrissy and I went across the street to a little shop that sold fresh cannoli.  It beat anything I've gotten anywhere in the States!  So awesome, and the orange peel added so much to it!

I would have liked to stay back and  walked around to see some of the other sights and taste some of the other cuisine, but there wasn't a shuttle provided for us this time, and I was hesitant to make the walk back on my foot.  We had a big tour with lots of walking in Rome coming up.  So, we road the bus back to the boat, getting there just as the bottom fell out and the rain poured.  Similar to Florida rain, the storm lasted all of probably 10 or 15 minutes, just long enough for us to clear security before walking from the security area to the boat.  It's certainly a pretty boat, though.