Monday - my final "tourist" day

My first job was to find the place where you wait for a bus to the Palermo Airport.  It's quite near where I was staying and Francesco, my host, showed me on a map. However, as I may have said in other posts, maps aren't always that much help here in Sicily, so I ended up on a quest once again.  But it was a nice morning and I came across another one of those decorative kiosks that seem to be scattered here and there. (don't know why the sky is yellow...)

I finally found a bus-tour sign-up place and asked the lady in there where the spot was that I was looking for and turned out I was almost there  It's right across the street from the Politeama which is a massive building on a big piazza.and is yet another theater for live performances - not a movie theater.  The Massimo theater which I recorded earlier and this one were both the result of competitions back in the late 1800's - one theater to be (no matter how you word it) for the richer and one for the masses.  The rich would get the grand operas, the masses would get operettas, comedies, tragedies, circuses, etc.  I don't know who gets what now.  Anyway, it's some building, but I would never guess looking at it that it was a theater!

 The next two are for Chris - I forget where we were in Florence - some piazza I think - and he didn't like the lightpoles - thought they weren't grand enough.  And they were kind of bare.  I think this one would probably be more to his liking and the next one is just a close up of the base which is pretty wonderful.

 So now that I knew how easy it would be to catch the airport bus in the morning (yeah, right!) I decided to head down to the waterfront.  I'd only been seeing little bits and pieces of it from the B&B and at the Valley of the Temples.  Also, my strange guidebook had an Eastern Palermo route to follow and I figured I could at least start that and see how far I'd get.

 Nope, that's not an apartment building - it's a huge cruise ship and this area is probably the most chaotic of anywhere I've been in Palermo - everyone wanting a piece of the action when the passengers disembark.  From there it wasn't too far to the first stop on the guidebook's route, although it was becoming obvious to me that I wouldn't be doing the whole thing!  I had walked quite a distance already and, of course would have the walk back.

This is the very plain and simple facade of the Oratorio di Santa Cita.  My guidebook says oratories are restored chapels whatever that means and since this one was built in the 16th century, I would imagine it has been restored at some point.

To enter, you go up a long staircase running alongside this pretty enclosed (and very quiet) courtyard.  That's the trunk of a tree which way up at the top has pretty bright rose flowers.  And the little spikes are sharp.

The interior of this very plain little chapel is astounding and is the work of one Giacomo Serpotta who worked with stucco!  And I simply have no idea how you create this incredible and delightful cacophony of activity with plaster.  But Giacomo did apparently because here it is.  The audio guide (which was free amazingly enough) stated that in his contracts, he always insisted on a cask of wine and a lute player who would play while he worked.  The picture above is one of I think 8 little "theaters" depicting on one wall, the joyous events in the life of Jesus and on the other wall, the trial, betrayal, bearing of the cross and crucifixion of Jesus.  I just photographed the nativity because over the years, I've collected a fair number of nativities.  The picture above is that little scene.

Above is the altar with one of two paintings in the entire chapel if I'm remembering correctly. 

And this is pretty much the entire back wall of the chapel, depicting the scene of the battle between the Christian fleets over the Turks in which St. Mary miraculously intervened..

Two of these bigger than life statues frame the apse and I see from the painting below (the ceiling of the apse) that actually there are three paintings in the chapel.

And, yes, I loved it so here's another one of the back wall.  I've just never seen a church, chapel, call it what you will, decorated in this manner.

I wonder if this is sort of like the box for royalty in a theater?

Above and below are ornamental shelf holders - little cherubs fighting fierce beasties.

Oh, and here's the top of that tree with the very spiky trunk.

And below, please meet Giacomo Serapotta, artist extraordinaire as long as he had his wine and music.

And below is just a nifty sign I liked.  Chris took a picture of a beautiful little dragon on a wrought iron light fixture so this is my pretty tin rooster outside a cafe.

And that is pretty much it from Palermo, Sicily, Italy.  Tuesday was bus to the airport (and after my careful mapping it out I made a wrong turn!), fly to Rome, catch another plane to Florence, (crazy!), take bus from airport to train station, take very nice little break to go to the Mercato Centrale and get some Parmesan Reggiano and Aceto Balsamica and stop in "my" corner cafe to say hi to the man and woman there and have a sandwich and a delicious red wine), back to the train station and train to Milan's train station, train from station to Milan airport, shuttle to hotel, a little dinner and bed.  Wednesday was shuttle to Milan airport, flight to JFK airport in New York City (arriving 1/2 hour early), train from airport to Jamaica station to catch a train to Penn Station.  From Penn station train to BWI (Baltimore airport) and from there to a big hug from January waiting to to pick me up.

And still in tourist mode on Thursday, January, who works at the library of Catholic University, finally  took me tosee the basilica there.  I may post pictures of that although January's phone did a much better job than mine so now I don't like the pictures I took.

I'll be driving back home Tuesday after a visit with my daughter Heather and her family and I'm going to make a pot roast and a big batch of chili! 

Thanks for traveling with me.  This trip certainly had its stressful moments and it was nice being able to share my days.

Sunday and I give Agrigento my best effort!

It was a lovely morning (as you can see from my morning views) and I was in fine fettle so decided I would walk to the train station where I was to catch my bus.  Since I gave myself plenty of time to have a bite to eat, get there, and figure out where to find the bus, I left early - I think around 9:30 or so.  And here is the simplest way to report on the day - a sequential list of events, starting with that 9:30 or so.  

There will be a few more pictures at the end so either scroll fast or read what can happen to one's plans.  First here are a few pictures I took on the way to the bus station.

 I thought I knew what this building was but come Monday, I found out I was wrong so I don't know what it is but it's pretty.

And this is the postal and telegraph headquarters (I guess you'd call it) that Mussolini had built while he was pal-ing around with Hitler.

 Just a very pretty building (almost white) that made me think of wedding cakes.

So, enough with the picture taking - time to get moving - things to do, places to go...here's what all happened.

1.  Made it to the train station and found a ticket booth.  He couldn't sell bus tickets and pointed outside and to the right for bus.

2.  Followed directions and there was a bus ticket office but they couldn't sell tickets to Agrigento.  I should go outside to the right.  Did that and ended up nowhere - I mean I went all the way around the building and it was in some sort of no-man's land.

3.  Came back to train station ticket booth who got fairly irate with me telling me bus ticket to the right.  I tried to tell him they told me no but gave up.

4.  Went back outside, asked a taxi driver if he knew.  No he didn't really but I could take taxi to Agrigento and said I imagine some price.  I told him I couldn't afford it and wandered around for a bit fairly disconsolate at which point he got irate and insisted taxi and I said no and walked away.

5.  Finally saw an SAIS bus sitting along the nearby street so went over there and into a cafe which had a friendly man in it and I said Cufarro bus to Agrigento?  and yes, it would come and he came outside to point down the street where I should wait.

6.  Waited and waited and the departure time came and went and no bus which is very unusual. Finally about 12:20 or so (by my watch) I went back to the friendly man and said is the bus late or maybe not coming?  He looked at the clock and said no not late and pointed to it, so I looked at the clock which of course showed 11:30, showed him my watch and we had a big laugh over that while I silently "sure which my hosts had told me!"

7.  The bus came at the new 12 oclock, I got on, bought my ticket and off we went.  It was to be a two hour trip which meant I would get there about 2:00 and since everyone, including the website, had said the last bus back would be 6:00, I'd  have about two or two and a half hours to wander around.

8.  Ran into miles of one-way construction traffic (where you stop at a red light and wait for oncoming to finish.  We were in the worst part for 30 minutes and then after that it would periodically slow for another stretch.

9. At Agrigento, you go to a sort of bus station for all the big buses and get off and wait for the bus to to the Valley of Temples..

10. It was about 3 or a little after when I got to the site and then I had to find the john, find where to buy the ticket, find out for sure when the "return to Agrigento bus" ran and where to catch it.  That all took quite a while and a very nice American woman with a group tour got her tour guide to help me.  The lady in the cafe told the tour guide where the bus pulled up and said it ran "on the hour" meaning 4, 5, etc.

11. I forget why I decided I'd better catch the 4:00 bus to Agrigento - probably because everything had been pretty horrible so far and if I missed the 6:00 back to Palermo, I was sunk.

12. The ticket stand was on the way up to some of the ruins, including the one I especially wanted to see.  So up I went, hurry, hurry, took my pictures and hurry back down and finally around 4:10 or so here was the bus back to town.

13. We got back to Agrigento very quickly so now I had an hour and a half in the increasingly chilly, no where to wait, bus "area".  In addition to which it would be dark before the bus got there.  I looked around for maybe somewhere to get a tea or something and get out of the cold but no dice.

14. When I returned to the buses I noticed a Cufarro one and went to look at where it was going and it was going to Palermo!  I started running straight towards the front of the bus, waving my arms and yelling "wait, wait" just as he started to inch his way out.

15. He stopped and I was at the door asking to get on.  He motioned and I thought he meant to come around to the window which I guess he did cause he rolled it down and I guess told me I couldn't get on but I didn't know that because he made the same circular motion again which this time I took to mean now go around to the door so I did and he and now a man standing on the curb said no.  As he pulled out the rest of the way and left, the man on the curb tapped his watch and said "two minutes" which later I realized he must have been telling me I had made the bus leave two minutes late.  Of course, had he opened the door and let me on rather than telling me no for two minutes, he wouldn't have been late.

So since that bus was 4:30, I asked the nasty watch man about the 6:00 bus - no, no - 6:30 bus.  So two hours to wait.

16. Which I did.  After the bus left I saw a sandwich board style sign advertising a pizza place and finally located it across the street and went over.  But of course it wasn't open.  But it was inside a big building and for some reason the entry to the big building was open so I stayed in there where it was somewhat warmer and at least not windy.

17. I knew they were going to open because a guy came and unlocked the door and started rolling up all the shutters, but even after they turned the lights on and opened the window coverings, no, they weren't open.

18. About six a huge crowd of tourists came in and then they were open,.

19. Six thirty got on the bus and we departed with me thinking surely the traffic wouldn't be so bad at night and on a Sunday at that, but it was actually a little worse.

20. Got to the station around 9:00 or a little after, it was really cold now, and I had to try to find the bus I needed to get to my place.  I at least knew the number 101 or 102 and asked several people getting different answers but finally got two people who both said the same place so went to wait.

21. Buses came and buses went and more buses came and went and finally mine came, I got on, got back to the place, went upstairs, put on my turtleneck sweater and a cardigan over that and went out and got something to eat and a glass of wine.

And that was Sunday and Agrigento.  Cost probably a total of around 25E, was there actually seeing what I went to see for about 30 minutes or so, not the best day ever but once I was warm, fed and wined, I decided to look at it as a comedy (dark) of misadventures.  And here are the pictures I took.

  

 This is the one I wanted to see - the Temple of Harmonium - which was built in 430-440 B.C. by the Greeks.  It is considered, to quote Wikipedia:  " one of the most notable examples of Ancient Greek architecture on account of its state of preservation."

 A view from the temple area...

 And whoopee!  I found another temple back behind this one that I cropped the picture big enough for me be able to see it. 

 Another view from that area.

 A fossil of a bird wing that I discovered because I saw people getting down to look at things in a rocky field and taking pictures.  I didn't find anything when I went to where they had been and left cause I couldn't miss that bus!  This was in a step stone that I was using to get down.

And whoopee again - one more peek through some bushes and take a picture of the columns of another ruin.  

 

Saturday - more pictures, less verbiage

All right, first of all I've taken some pictures of my very modern hotel and the view from the terrace  it also is very reasonable for being in the city.  The host and hostess - it's a B and B - are very nice and helpful and breakfast is delivered to my room each morning.

So, you can see from the commode that it is a very modern room.  I have to confess - I've never seen an oblong commode and they take a little getting used to.  The shower is very modern also and I had to ask for help on how to use the hand-held part.

My weird little guidebook "Step by Step in Sicily" is all either walks or car trips throughout Sicily.  For Palermo, they have two walking tours and Saturday, I did the major part of the western one which was quite major, really.  The two big name sites I saw were the Capella Palatine, the Teatro Massimo - Palermo's opera house, and the Cathedrale.  They were all spectacular in their own way and I may make the mile or so walk back to Teatro Massimo and pay to see the inside.  So in reverse order, here are the pictures I have, starting with Teatro Massimo.  It is beautiful and is the third largest in either Italy or Europe (I can't remember which at this point).

Two gorgeous lions...

 This one was camera shy - I took lots of shots before I got a useable one.

And good, ol' Guiseppe Verdi - an Italian favorite apparently even though there have been plenty of other Italian composers.

And an this side, there's this pretty little round addition that I didn't even know was there til I got there.  A gorgeous building. And below is a little bitty thing - there are two of them out on the pavement in front of the Teatro Massimo and back in the day, they were where you bought your tickets for the opera.  Designed by an architect and everything.  And even with all the signage and junk, they're still pretty special.

And looking through the Teatro Massino's lovely fence, past a lovely lamppost to a lovely building across the street...reminiscent of Paris.

So moving on, I come to the Quatra Centro - where two main (and very busy) thoroughfares, Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuelle bisect the city into four quarters.  And I took a picture of each corner.

 Took this one because I thought she was pretty and deserved a close-up.  And the one below I took because there were no cars or people!!!  And I liked the horse and carriage centered as it was.

Walked and walked and walked some more and all of a sudden, set back from the street so you don't notice it coming is the Cattedrale e Tesoro.  That's where I was headed but to come upon it like that is kind of breathtaking.

The building is mammoth - just seems to go on and on.  And beautifully located without tons of trinket vendors surrounding it.  Don't know how they manage that. I want you to know I weeded out many pictures so as you wade through the following many inside and outside pics of the Cattedrale, just remember that.

 A room lined with various reliquaries I would assume from various saints.

 And they are guarded by this beautiful iron gate.

 Amazingly enough, this was a side chapel altar, not the main altar.

And these many pictures below are inlaid marble representations of all the signs of the zodiac.  There was an Italian sign explaining it but I thought I remembered reading that one of the builders of the cathedral, with rare wisdom, wanted the church to incorporate all the various religions that were found in Palermo/Sicily due to all the invasions and conquerors different religions.  However, I got into a nice conversation with a small group of Italians who spoke very good English and they said that the sign explained that going as they do in a diagonal line right across the front of the sanctuary, the sun hit them in such a way that they basically followed the calendar, I guess.  Not sure I understand how that would work - maybe just on one particular day of the year or something, like Stonehenge.  Anyway, I thought they were interesting and pretty so, yes, I took a picture of each one.

Then back outside for a few more.  This first one is a "float" that is used during the celebration of whatever saint is Palermo's saint, I think.  That would be Santa Rosario if I remember right,  The cities and villages here have huge festivities for their patron saints with floats, parades, fireworks, etc.

Walking down the street above which runs alongside the cathedral, I came across this side entrance (below).

And no, I don't know who he is, but I got a good shot of his headgear below.

So that was the cathedral.  Next, pant, pant, I headed towards the Capo - Palermo's large open-air market.  Saw the little thingie below on my way and thought it was pretty delightful.

.I was really wearing down a little and I'm sure anyone looking at all of this is also.  But there's still more.

I wandered around a bit but I finally found my way to the market and it was great, as they all seem to be.  And this one didn't seem to have so many flies.  I always wonder how the residents of the town who buy their fish and such at these markets survive eating it because being the sanitary-trained American I am, I can't imagine buying and eating fish that has had flies crawling around on it.  Of course, I suppose the cooking takes care of any problems because that's what the people here do and there are a lot of people here, so apparently death doesn't overtake them at the first bite.

 The picture above is of a bird's wing!  I asked what bird it was since it is really large but the name he said meant nothing to me.  But it's from one big bird,.

 Lots and lots of olives...

 I'm assuming mussels and you can see one sticking his head out near the front.  I saw some spouting out water too, but couldn't catch them at it.

 Those aren't big eggs, they're incredibly fresh and perfect mushrooms.

I also had on my agenda to visit the Capella Palatine so I started out in search of that.  Somehow in Sicily at least the little bit I've visited, maps and such aren't quite as much help as you wish they would be.  Of course that could possibly be because a lot of the streets don't have signage and it seems like a lot of the ones that do are small enough that the maps don't show them.  Sigh...But I got there.  I still don't understand the whole set-up.  There is the Palazzo Reale which has been the center of power since Byzantine times and is now the seat of the Sicilian parliament and various government departments.  And as my guidebook says, the Christians razed the Roman fort, the Arabs imposed a Moorish castle, the Normans remodeled that which was later embellished by the Spanish.  Not much remains of its days as a palace for the Arabs and Normans, apparently, but the Capella Palatine, which was built for Roger II (from what I've read, a very wise ruler who allowed all the various previous religions to continue practicing their religion and employed artisans from all creeds to contribute to buildings, art, etc). between 1130 and 1140.  Every available surface is covered with mosaics, a lot of them gold covered.  It is absolutely stunning and I have no idea why I would bother taking pictures but I did because how could I not?  Again, according to the book, the mosaics "represent the fusion of Byzantine, Arab, Norman and Sicilian civilizations.  Greek, Latin and early Arabic script adorn the walls and capitals, a reminder of the languages of the Norman court."  And I know I said "not much verbiage" but I'm real impressed with this man Roger considering he ruled 900 some years ago and in some respects did better than our rulers today.  So here are my pictures and just try to imagine seeing it all at once top to bottom, side to side, glittering and sparkling as you turn and turn.

 

I liked this fountain/statue (although I don't know who he is) and I liked the sky.  I do know he was one of the multitudinous conquerors and my guess would be he was one of the Norman ones.  I did manage to remember that I read those are prisoner/slaves surrounding him (and sort of looking up his skirt thing if you ask me)

This is the Palazzo Reale.  And it does have a Norman look to it.  It certainly is big!

And this is a big "porta" although I couldn't find a name for it.  It's quite decorative inside and wait til you see the other side after I walked through it trying to find the Capella Palatine.

Liked all the different surfaces on this trim around the other side's opening.

And how about this?  Took a bunch of pictures - none satisfactory and finally noticed there were "island markings" out in the middle of the road so out I went and stood smack dab in the middle of the street and am quite happy with this photo. Made it original size so you could see all the faces and such.

The courtyard of the Royal Apartments and the following pictures are from those few rooms they have open to the public.  It was a little strange because I think the majority of this area (and the rest of the building) is government space.  Maybe not - I just didn't understand the setup.

 And having a soft spot for Archimedes after my long journey to his "maybe" tomba, I was delighted to see this rendering of the man.  Certainly a handsome and thoughtful looking guy.

 This is the ceiling of the tower.

And this is one part of one flight of the monumental staircase mentioned in the sign above.

And now we're in the Capella Palatine - still in the same building - in fact the entry is in one of those balcony levels and there's a picture of the entry further on.  There are a lot of probably fairly repetitious pictures.

A carved, painted and gilded wood ceiling.

More wood ceiling of a different style

Just pure ornamentation...

These several borders ran all along the walls.

Are you remembering - all mosaic, no paint?

This gives a good idea of the shine of the gold as the light hits it.

And finally, at the end, the entrance.  Guess we'll just call it the exit! :)

And basically, after an entire day of walking, I died upon arrival at my room.  Just had strength later to go out for something to eat and wine, came back and slept like a log!  And now I must sleep again because I'm supposed to be at the airport bus stop by 6 tomorrow morning.

I'm not going to proof this - so please forgive any glaring errors,