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Published: April 25th 2023
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Palermo cathedral
The oldest parts of the cathedral in Palermo dates back to the 12th century. I have seen the volcano that gave us the word "Volcano"
Winter in Sweden is something that neither of us really enjoy. We find that it is too wet, too dark and too cold. For more than 20 years Ake has been able to take time off from work over Christmas and New Year and has gone abroad for at least one week to get an antidote to Swedish winter. Due to the pandemic that streak of winter holidays came to an abrupt halt two years ago. So Ake has been staying home for Christmas two years in a row, 2020 and 2021.
But in 2022 it was possible to travel again so Ake went abroad. This time Emma could not come along so Ake picked a destination Emma has visited but Ake hasn't - the island Sicily.
Most of the time I stayed in Palermo and that is also where I spent the first day of this vacation. I mainly spent my time in central Palermo because that is where most of the sites I was interested in are and that is also where I found the hotels I stayed in.
Palermo cathedral
Fresco in Palermo cathedral A good thing for me is that all the interesting sites in central Palermo can be reached on foot. I find that walking is an excellent way to see a city so I am happy when I can walk everywhere.
Here comes a short description of what I saw in Palermo.
The Cathedral - The oldest parts of the
cathedral in Palermo dates back to the 12th century. But it has been renovated more than once over the years and probably rebuilt and altered as well. So to my completely untrained eyes the cathedral looks much younger than 900 years.
La Zisa -
La Zisa is a 900 year old palace. Unlike the cathedral it is easy to see that La Zisa is quite old and has seen its fair share of adventures over the time. I am happy I went there. But once I got inside I have to admit there was very little to see. There were some signs, mostly in Italian, with information about the history of the palace etc. But other than that it was quite barren.
Catacombe dei Cappuccini - Near La Ziza there is a Capuchin monastery where they used to
Quattro Canti
Quattro Canti is a spectacular street crossing in central Palermo bury people
in catacombs. When burying people the dead bodies were either mummified, dried or embalmed before placed in the catacombs. Some of the bodies and in coffins but the vast majority are hung up along the walls. These catacombs can be visited but photography is forbidden. Therefore I haven't added any pictures. But if you want to see some just follow the link above or
this link.
Ponte dell'Amiraglio -
Admiral's bridge, as it is known in English, is an almost 1,000 year old stone bridge. The river it used to span was in 1938 rerouted so the bridge today stands in a park.
Santa Maria dell'Amiraglio -
Church of Santa Maria dell'Amiraglio is an almost 900 year old church in central Palermo. The church is lavishly decorated. The mosaics and the frescoes in the ceiling are truly spectacular.
Palazzo dei Normanni - Palazzo dei Normanni used to be the royal palace. Now that the days of monarchy are long gone the palace serves as the seat of the Sicilian regional assembly. Some sections of the palace are open for public. In those sections the church
Capella Palatina and the royal apartments are the most spectacular parts.
Palazzo dei Normanni, La
Fontana Pretoria
Fontana Pretoria is a grand fountain. Unfortunately it is close to impossible to take good photos of it Ziza, the cathedral and a few other buildings are part of a world heritage site. The name of the heritage site is very long and complicated -
Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale. The words "Norman" and "Normanni" made me take a quick look into who the
Normans were. They originated from Normandy in France and according to Wikipedia they are descendants from Vikings who settled there and built a community together with the locals who lived there when the Vikings arrived.
Other buildings etc in Palermo worth mentioning here are
Quattro Canti - a spectacular street crossing
Fontana Pretoria - a grand fountain (which by the way is virtually impossible to take good photos of)
Palermo central station - nice looking central station. Far better than average
Villa Giulia - a public park.
Church of San Cataldo - An almost 900 year old church.
After Palermo I went to Milazzo. From there I one day took a ferry to Stroboli and spent a day there before going back to Milazzo. The next day I took a ferry to the island Vulcano and spent the day there before going back to Milazzo.
Stromboli The island
Stroboli, northeast of Sicily, is
Park near La Ziza
One of Ake's trademark photos - the corridor known for having one of the most active volcanoes in Europe. I was hoping to see an eruption or at least some flowing lava. I didn't. The volcano decided to be quiet the day I was there.
I hiked to a lookout point from where, when the volcano has an eruption, you can see the lava flow. In spite that it was a cloudy day the hike was nice. The trail was in need of renovation though. In two places water had washed away the trail. The holes in the trail were so deep that a person that falls into one of them could easily break a leg or an arm.
The church Chiesa di San Vincenzo Ferreri in Stromboli had a very interesting nativity scene. It was placed on a model of Stroboli, complete with the volcano having an outbreak and lava flowing into the ocean.
Vulcano The island
Vulcano is much closer to Milazzo than Stroboli and therefore sees more visitors.
Vulcano has a volcano, not surprisingly since the word "volcano" originates from here. I mainly went to Vulcano to see the volcano that gave name to all volcanos.
La Zisa
La Zisa is a 900 year old palace. Up close it is easy to see that La Zisa is quite old and has seen its fair share of adventures over the time. It was fun to do that. On top of that I got to see some fumaroles, vents where hot volcanic gases are emitted.
After my visit to Stroboli and Vulcano I went back to Palermo. The following four days I rented a car and made excursions to various interesting places in Sicily. The first day I visited three sites. Each of these is shortly described below.
Segesta Sicily was for a while incorporated in the civilization known as Ancient Greece. There are many sites throughout Sicily from this era and
Segesta is one of those. The site has some crumbling remains of various building such as a well preserved amphitheatre and an absolutely stunning Doric temple.
Tonnara di Scopello When I read the guidebook they mentioned an old abandoned tuna harbour and processing plant,
Tonnara di Scopello. It sounded like a place that I would like to see so I went there. It wasn't quite up to my expectations. Also it felt like the site perhaps wasn't really open for tourists like me. It almost felt like I was trespassing. When I was in there they even closed the
La Zisa
There was very little to see inside the palace. This room was the only one that was decorated gate so when I wanted to leave I couldn't get out. They opened eventually and they made no fuzz about me being there. They are probably well used to visitors. But the feeling that my presence was only just barely tolerated lingered in the air when I left.
This blog entry pretty much covers what I did and saw the first half of my 10 day long vacation. I stop here and leave the rest of my photos and the rest of my trip for later.
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Sheri Schroeder
non-member comment
Sicily
I always wanted to go to Sicily but have never made it. Was fun to see your photos and summary of things to see there. Love the frescos.