From Capri we took a ferry back to Naples to catch an overnight ferry on to Sicily. The ride to Naples was somewhat more exciting than normal, as the seas were pretty heavy; the boat we’d planned to take was cancelled, but our hotel had anticipated that and told us to take an earlier, bigger boat. Our expectations for the boat to Sicily were distinctly modest, but the boat turned out to be really pretty nice, a lot like being on the Love Boat. It even had a nice restaurant, where only three other people besides us came for dinner. Not sure how they justify the expense of three or four wait staff plus kitchen staff…
Early Wednesday morning, after a great night’s sleep on the rocking boat, we arrived in Palermo, Sicily’s capital. It’s an ancient city whose food and architecture reflect the mix of Greek, Roman, Arab, and Norman conquerors over the centuries. When we first started planning this leg of the trip and I was looking over maps, I was struck by just how close Sicily is to North Africa, and walking around the historic center of the city you could see this great mixture of Arab and Italian cultures.
So we walked, took some pictures, and ate some great food which, after Capri, was a great bonus. Now we’re doing something new for this adventure: we’re renting a car and are going to drive around the island, trying to get a sense of Sicily over the next week or so.
It feels as though we could be in North Africa
The interior of some of the churches are understated, but not this one
The Cathedral
View of Palermo from our breakfast room, with a very faint rainbow in view
Fun statue
Much of tourism is just looking at how people live
Great street markets in Palermo, with lots of fish…
… And olives – many variety of olives
Here it looks as though the bishop is making an obscene gesture
And big news in the planning department: we found great frequent flyer tickets to Bangkok on October 11, so after our bike trip in Puglia we’re going to Rome for a few days and then to Southeast Asia. We won’t stay in Bangkok for long, and will probably head south down through Malaysia and into Indonesia. We’ve been wondering for quite a while where we would go after Italy, and now we know!
Really cool.