Palermo

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The first thing I did when I got up was go to the suburbs, to the catacombs which I was really excited about. You see I have a morbid fascination with the dead and stuff like that, and these catacombs have around 8000 mummified corpses of Palermo citizens from between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was fascinating. Mostly skeletons but some of them still had skin and hair! Apparently the higher class corpses are better preserved than the paupers. There was a section for child corpses and a separate corridor for males and females/higher and lower classes/virgins.

Then I walked back down Via Vittorio Emanuele where I picked up a few cheap outfits 😊, past the beautiful cathedral and to the Palazzo dei Normanni. From here I decided to take the city in quarters, starting with Albergheria District where I visited the market and bought a new shower head for 2 euros and a peach. I then carried on to La Kalsa which has been compared to Calcutta due to its poverty. The aim was to follow this district's streets to Piazza Marina and Villa Garibaldi but I somehow ended up in La Vucciria District ahead of 'schedule'. So I walked back to La Kalsa and found the Piazza. Villa Garibaldi is so nice with the most amazing tree in its centre. Also saw the building where the Spanish Inquisition had it's Sicilian headquarters: the Palazzo Chiaramonte built in 1307.

I then walked into La Vucciria where I headed through the mixture of elegant and poverty stricken streets to Piazza San Domenico, where began the Il Capo street market (on the other side of the road). My hostel was in Il Capo so I popped back and dropped off my shopping from earlier and then went to see Teatro Massimo where the Godfather was filmed.

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Photos

Teatro Massimo
as seen in The Godfather

Catacombs
bit naughty of me to take this shot but couldn't resist