Palermo

Today we start our walking tour around Palermo at 9:30 am.

We walked by the Opera house, Theater Massimo.

We headed by the Capo Market, which was bustling.

The greens of the long zucchini are a delicacy for our guide. But they take a long time to prepare.

We passed by a 5th century BC wall, from the Phoenician or Greek period of the city.

Then we headed to the Cathedral of Palermo.

There is a small hole in one of the domes and a heliometer on the floor to track the position of the sun.

One chapel is dedicated to Saint Rosalia who is the patron saint of Palermo.

We next got to see Sicilian Puppet Opera at Theater Argento.

The owner gave a talk explaining the differences between Palermo style and Catania style puppets. The Palermo puppets are smaller, weigh less, have more joints and moveable pieces, Palermo puppets can pull out a sword from the scabbard for example. The Palermo puppeteers stand on the stage and have multiple barriers on the side to stand behind. The Catania puppeteers work from above.

After the puppet show, we headed down to the Quattro Canti di Citta’ (the Four Corners of the City).

The convent by the Church of Saint Catherine sells pastries, and we went after our tour ended. The line was really long, so we looked for lunch elsewhere. After lunch, we went back to tour the church.

After touring the church, we walked up Via Vittorio Emanuele to New Gate.

You can get a horse-drawn carriage ride through Palermo.

Then we toured the Royal Palace which contains the fabulous mosaics in the Cappella Palatina.

The palace has rooms decorated in different styles.

There is a small family chapel that is decorated with golden tiles much like the big chapel.