Walking Around Palermo (with Going Into Places): Part Tre

This is a statue in the Archaeology Museum of a lion attacking a bull.
Lucky for the bull, the lion has no head. Talk about an answered prayer.

I'm doing a loop around and through the historic core of Palermo. Next stop: the archaeological museum, Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas.

When you enter, you first see this fountain. I assumed the turtles were fake. They were immobile. But then I noticed one of them swimming:

The turtles most definitely are real.

As are the archaeological treasures.

The collection comes most from long-buried Phoenician and, later, Greek, cities/settlements in Sicily.

Sicily was first settled by the Phoenicians. Palermo was founded by the Phoenician. This is Phoenician territory. That makes sense. The Phoenicians were seafarers. An island in the middle of the Mediterranean would have strategic significance.

But, then, long before Rome crushed the Phoenician colony of Carthage in the Punic Wars, Greece came to Sicily. Here's Zeus. for example:

And here's another Zeus.

Sicily was an important part of the Greek sphere, the Magna Graecia, or "Greater Greece." Syracuse (the one on the east side of Sicily) (not the one in New York) was one of the biggest and most important cities in the Greek world. Sicily was Greek long before it was Italian.

The museum is somewhat small. This garden area separates the front of the museum from the back.

And in the back is where we get to the heart and soul of this small museum's collection. These are the remains of the long-gone Greek city of Selinunte, on Sicily's southern shore, close to the western point of the triangular-shaped Sicily.

This section consists of fragments of buildings from Selinunte. Putting them in the museum makes it much easier to see than if they were way in the air. Here are three scenes from Greek mythology.

The middle section is Perseus cutting off the head of Medusa. Let's have a closer look.

On the right is a scene with Heracles (to use his Greek name) (you know him better as the Roman "Hercules") carrying two robbers. 

Here is another piece of a building from Selinunte.

The clearest and best defined section, the second one from the right, depicts an interesting scene.

You may recognize this (or not) as Actaeon being torn apart by dogs as punishment for having gazed up the goddess Artemis while she was naked. Kind of an extreme punishment for only catching a glimpse of nudity by accident, but those were the rules back then.

After leaving the museum and walking back to my hotel along Via Roma, I saw this white horse pulling a hansom cab.

The horse looked like White Abarrio, who was my choice to win the Kentucky Derby. White Abarrio finished sixteenth in the field of 20. I guess this would be a viable career option for him.

I ended up at the Vucciria, a famous street market in the historic district of Palermo.

I did not eat here, despite the fresh meats.

And fresh vegetables.

Instead, I waited until supper time to eat at the Quattro Mani, which was a short walk from my hotel.

I has the squid and octopus salad as my antipasti.

It was very good. The squid and octopus were obviously very fresh. Truth be told, however: the octopus salad in Croatia is better.

For my main course I had something called "swordfish rolls," which was a Sicilian variation of the German dish rouladen, only with swordfish.

The dish was excellent. Sicily is known for its swordfish. And this is the first time I've ever had swordfish in any form other than a swordfish steak.

The dessert was absolutely incredible.

Strawberries in lemon cream. Simple, but amazing. The strawberries were sweet and had the perfect texture. Not crunchy. Not mushy. Just strawberry. And the lemon flavored cream was the perfect accompaniment.

Time to walk back to the hotel through the dark and wet streets of Palermo.

La Passeggiata, the evening stroll that Sicilians make through their town, was still happening, although winding down.

Walking Around Palermo (Featuring Actually Going Into Places): Part Due

Palermo's Cathedral

Have I mentioned yet how much I love Palermo? I know Palermo gets very little attention when people book their whirlwind tours of all the great sights in Italy. But it should.

Because all roads in Palermo lead to the Quatto Canti, I ended up at the Quattro Canti. This is the Four Corners. And there are four buildings at each of the four corners, each in the style of the other, with the concave facade. Each has a different statue of the same theme. On the bottom floor of each are each of the four seasons. On the second floor are each of the four Spanish kings of Sicily. And on the third floor are each of the four patron saints of Palermo.

One of things I love about this city is that the compact historic core is very walkable. It looks like it is many blocks long, but the blocks are exceedingly short. And, soon enough, I reached my next destination: the Cathedral of Palermo.

It's huge. The exterior is beautiful,

Construction of the cathedral also began in the 1100's. Are you getting the impression that this was some sort of Golden Age for Sicily in general and Palermo in particular?

Let's have a look inside.

It's beautiful in that "cathedral" sort of way.

I'm not denigrating the place. I'm really not. And the exterior really is magnificent. It's just that it is no Martorana.

But it is a whole lot bigger.

Again, it was spectacular. But just a few minutes earlier I saw the most beautiful church interior I've ever seen in all my life. How do you live up to that?

This is one of the side doors into the cathedral.

One last look at the exterior before we move on.

This is the view toward the Norman Palace. The Norman Palace is one of the absolute must-see attractions in Palermo. I did not go in because I forgot that this was the Norman Palace when I was out walking.

There's always tomorrow. Time to hoof it to my next destination.

The enormous Teatro Massimo.

It is reputedly the second largest theater in the world. I was thinking. It's really easy to claim to be the second most of anything, isn't it? If you claim to be first, to be the most, someone will fight you on that. But claim to be number two? No one is going to fight you and claim, "No. We're second best. Not you." So why not go for it? Why not proclaim yourself #2?

Anyway, I did go in the Teatro Massimo. But the next English language tour was too long to wait. And I had other places to see.

Off we go to the next stop for the day. It's not too far.

Walking Around Palermo (and This Time I Actually Go Into Places): Part Uno

The view of Chiesa di San Cataldo (with its three red domes) as seen from Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio

It's a rainy Saturday morning in Palermo. In fact, the forecast for my entire time here is rain. Not hard rain. That light, misty rain. I had one sunny day in Rome and if the forecast is to be believed, that will be the only sunny day of the trip.

So I grabbed my umbrella and my camera and went to grab a double espresso to fortify me for my walking tour of the historic core of Palermo

That's a whole lot of espresso that was downed before I got there. And that's a whole of plates and dishes to wash.

Caffeinated, I am now ready to walk.

Should I take a horse to continue on my journey? This is Pretoria Square, which I saw the other night. That means my first destination is close by.

And I spy three red domes.

The three red domes belong to Chiesa di San Cataldo, the Norman era Church of St. Catald. St. Catald is the patron saint of Sicilian Normans. Which probably leaves him with a lot of free time nowadays, as the last Norman left Sicily about 800 years ago.

The red domes are the signature of the joint. Let's have a look inside.

It is small and simple and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Admission was only three euros. It's worth paying a little for the upkeep of the place. The church was built in 1154. So it is definitely looking good for its age.

This is the view of what would be under two of the three red domes. Red domes apparently were a thing in Arab architecture back then. Maybe there are three as a reference to the holy trinity, which would make them less Arabic? You'd have to ask the architect. Of course, he shuffled off this mortal coil almost 900 years ago, so I don't think you'll be getting any answers from him.

Right across the plaza (piazza) (I should use the correct terminology since I am in Italy here) is Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, which translates to St. Mary of the Admiral. This is a seafaring town after all. Always has been. It also is known as Chiesa della Martorana, or just plain Martorana.

Doesn't look like much from the outside does it? Kind of plain. Kind of boring. But just wait until you get inside.

Prepare to have your socks knocked off.

Socks. Knocked. Off. The pictures do not do Martorana justice. I am absolutely serious when I say that I believe that this is the most beautiful church interior I have ever seen.

Construction began in 1143. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015.

It looks like yards and yards of cameo jewelry.

There was a tour group inside, speaking Italian, but overall the interior was not crowded. You could actually just sit (or stand) and soak the place in.

Which I did.

Here's looking up at the single dome.

Just overwhelming. Bliss!

I could have spent all day there, but there was more Palermo to soak in.

The horses were ready. But, once again, I hoofed it on my own hooves.