Day 19 20-09-2013 Fri Palermo

Our route to Palermo took us south down the coast to Catania. From there we headed inland toward Enna through a broad valley with beautiful rolling hills – most attractive scenery. Our only stop was Enna – a sizeable hill town with a fabulous view of the valley below, and of another village on a neighbouring hill. We’ve never encountered this configuration before. 

Not having a map, we parked our car at what was the wrong end of town. There were signs at various spots pointing to a Tourist Info¸ but we only found it by chance at the end of trudging from the boring end where we parked to the castle at the other end – a good 2 Km away. At the castle a couple of old guys were waiting for suckers like us that they could open a locked wire gate for and give a mini-guided tour. He was a nice man and did impart some useful information. The castle was built by the Normans in the 12^th century, Frederick II spent some time there, but kaput (died?) in Palermo. 

The "guide" also recommended the Duomo and this was indeed quite good – the best we’ve encountered so far on this tip. Exiting the Duomo we encountered yet another wedding. This must be our 7^th or 8^th – there’s a marrying fever here.

The route from Enna to the north coast, which continued through the same beautiful scenery was further notable for the fact that for over 50 Km the autostrada was an elevated roadway, for no compelling reason that I could discern. It’s as if they did not want to touch ground.

The approach to Palermo passed by a really attractive headland. We found one of the rare turnouts to stop at and photograph. The euphoria soon turned to disgust as the place was liberally covered in refuse.

We found our hotel with no problem and manage to park in the snug courtyard. Not sure about getting out again. After a short rest we set out to explore the town. The city is bigger than it looks and as it turned out, our hotel is situated a good 2 Km from the centre. Like the foolish tourists we are, we did it all on Shank’s Pony and got back a little exhausted.

Opera House

It’s probably a little unfair to express an opinion about the town after only one outing, but first impressions seem to carry some weight. From our streets-only experience: decaying and seedy.

We asked the hotel desk where to eat and they pointed us to a nearby square with several eateries. The square was not the usual square, being subdivided into quadrants with stone edging. The quadrants were mostly gravel and a number of open-air BBQ kiosks were in operation, spewing vast quantities of smoke – while the charcoal was warming up we presume. All kinds of odd people about – odd by behaviour rather than appearance. 

There were several bars with outside eating areas, but their names, Drunks, and similar put us off, so we headed for the only establishment that looked normal. A twenty minute wait was advised, so we did a half circuit of the square. By that time the reserved tables were all occupied and it was still twenty minutes. A short time later an additional table was brought out and two chairs were borrowed from a neighbouring establishment. The menu took a while to appear and the waiter to take the order even longer, due to the large party. Once ordered, the food (pizza) and wine arrived relatively quickly. Pizza was okay. 

Walking home through the square, we had the impression of an apocalyptic or pagan scene with people huddled in the wasteland around the bbq kiosks, with wild music blaring.

We got home safely though.

From our hotel in Taormina: