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.

Introductory Walk around the Historic Core of Palermo

After dark on the street in front of my hotel. Don't be fooled by the apparent quiet.
It's actually a lively street party scene facing the other direction.

Palermo has a deep and fascinating history. It is about as old as Rome. But it was founded by the Phoenicians and was tied to the Phoenician outpost (and arch-rival of Rome) Carthage long before it fell under Roman rule. It was conquered by the Arabs. It was liberated by the Normans (at the behest of a pope), who also left a strong imprint on the city. When the last Norman king died without leaving an heir, Sicily fell under the Holy Roman Empire and, later, was ruled in absentia by Aragon, Spain. Palermo and Sicily were only reluctantly corraled into the unified Italy.

This is the view from the balcony of my hotel room in the historic core of Palermo, near the sea.

Palermo may have faded quite a bit from its heights reached in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, when it was one of the most important cities in the world. But even frayed and decaying, it still looks great.

I took a walk around the historic area (at least the part of it closest to sea water) just to get the lay of the land.

The streets are narrow. There seem to be no right angles at any intersections. But it's compact and easy to navigate.

This is the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Catena. St. Mary of the Chain, a reference to chaining the port closed in medieval times.

The church is near the port. In particular, it is near the part of the port that is the home to pleasure craft.

The picture might look better if I was not snapping into the sun.

These are the Porta Felice, the Renaissance / Baroque era "gates" into the city from the harbor.

And on the land side of the gates, something wedding-ish seems to be afoot.

I'm guessing pre-wedding bridal photography taking place at a photogenic historic locale. The real wedding has to be somewhere else.

It's time to venture deeper into the historic city.

I don't know what this is.

I just know it does not date back to medieval times.

And this is a huge tree. Is it a banyan tree? Do they have those here?

At this point I decided I am going to walk to the most important intersection in Palermo. Quattro Canti. And I will walk along the Cassaro, as was its old Arab name. It is the main street through the city to the harbor. It's now officially called Via Vittorio Emanuele II. But what does Victor Emmanuel have to do with Palermo?

But there are so many interesting stops along the way, even though it is a short distance. Such as this:

Why all those statues there?

What's the point?

Does there even need to be a point? The point is that this is known as Fontana Pretoria. Piazza Pretoria.

Which is a stone's throw from Quattro Canti. And I am referring to how far I can throw a stone, which isn't much of a distance at all. This again, is a major intersection, marking the crossing of two very important, very major thoroughfares: Via Vittorio Emanuele II, or, as we prefer to call it, the Cassaro, and Via Maqueda.

And yet the streets are so narrow.

There's a building with slight variations of the same theme at each corner of this intersection.

It is the hub of Palermo.

Time to head back to the hotel. But there is always time to stop to snap some church exterior photos. This is Chiesa di San Domenico.

And this must be St. Dominick, founder of the Dominican order, at the top of that column.

I took a wrong turn trying to walk back to my hotel. I got lost in the warren of little narrow streets when I ended up walking in the opposite direction from what I intended, heading away from the hotel. 

No need to panic. Right when I realized I was lost, I looked up and saw this big map of the city with "You are here" written in English. I hadn't seen a map like that in Palermo up to that point, the point I needed it. (I could've easily gotten un-lost as I had my street map with me and I could have figured it out. But it was weird seeing a big map off to the side of the street with an English language "You are here" right when I needed it.)

I do like getting safely lost in new cities. It's how you learn the lay of the place.

So, after walking around, some of the walk with gelato in hand, I only wanted a light supper. I decided "more pizza." So I ate at the Voglia Di Pizza right next to my hotel.

Weirdly enough, my first pizza in Sicily was not "Sicilian," at least not the style of pizza we call "Sicilian" stateside. I again had the diavolo, with spicy salami, plenty of onion, and black olives (still with their pits intact). The pizza was very good. It was not "knock my socks off" awesome. The socks stayed on my feet. But the price was a sock-er knock-er off-er. The bill was 5.50 euros, including a bottle of sparkling water.