In Palermo safe and sound (and a little bit sun burned!)

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Hi all,

so, first entry from palermo, sicilia, and i must say, i think i would put this city at the top of my list so far. it is amazing, such a contrast to anything we have see so far. and the way we arrived was a new one for us too. we opted out of getting the ferry from napoli to palermo, and get the train instead, as it was 10 euros cheaper, and took 2 hours less. however, i was pretty unsure that it was possible to get the train to sicily, as was pretty sure there was no bridge or tunnel connecting them (to stop "the unmentioned" bringing "unmentioned" powers over to the mainland). our journey was pretty interesting, me and kerry sharing a cabin with two football coaches taking 20 odd 13 yr olds to a football tournement on the mainland heading home, so we didnt get much sleep due to the late night excitement in the next cabin. however, i got more sleep than kerry, and missed the excitement of getting the ferry, by train, to sicily! didnt know such things were possible! anyway, arrived in amazing sunshine at 8am, and the place we are staying is ace. it is dorms, just 3 rooms in total. but the kindly put aside the 1 double room they have for us, which is a nice change. we got a great deal of intructions from the hubby of the couple who run the place, and told us all about the city, what to do, what to eat etc. after hearing about the 3 daily fish meat and veg markets, we hit the nearest one for some street-food breakfast. the guy said the 2 local traditional street foods were liver sandwich, and boiled octopus, and, unlike kerry, i was eager to try both. i managed to find a liver sandwich stall, and it was obviously the place to be, with all the local tucking in, some with a beer, which i admired at 10am! kerry opted out, after the tripe sandwich in florence, and played it safe with a fryed polenta (with a cocktail of herbs) sandwich. the liver was served in a similar way to the tripe, kind of hot roasted the fryed in its natural gravy, slapped in one half on the bun, with the other half ripped a hole in and a scoop of gravy in the hole, and rammed together. it was amazing, the best sandwich iv had over here so far. i cant wait for puglia, and which organ il try between bread there! the market was ace, a real buzz about the place, really dramatic too, with lemons and oranges the size of a football, and fish that look like sea monsters (bestia della mare!) we then hit the beach, where all the locals, families, etc, were down at playing football etc, and chilled out there for a while. its such a change to be in mid-april, in 28c weather! around 2, we headed back to the hostel for a nap, as kerry on had 2 hours sleep on the train. around 3, we hit the theatro palermo, and having been to the oldest theatre in the world in vicenza, this is the biggest in italy, and the 2nd biggest in the world. a few beers in the sun later, we headed home for a shower before going out to the local restuarant for the local speciality, fresh sardines pasta, i cant wait!
the highlight of the day for me tho had to be being mistaken (based on my surname and just my greeting in italian) by the owner of the hostel as being italian! before u ask, he also is of sound mental health and italian, so chuffed with that!
we didnt get to go out the the island of procida, as the ferry was too pricy, so went down the coast instead, which was ace, great weather etc. anyway, im busy watching the palermo vs fiorentina match with the father in law of the guy we are staying with while i wait for kerry get ready, so dont want to seem rude being on this too long! hope all is well at home, and ur all wrapping up warm! love to all,

Alex and kerry.

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Comments

[fran]

thanks!
we just had arth over for tea last nite, mums probably said, and he gave me ur present. its well ace, very precious, i mite take it to plymouth with me!! we are all so jealous stuck here in this very rubbish country. the photos look amazing - so much fun. really wish i was there!!! that sandwich sounds interesting, ur starting to sound even worse than mum in terms of what ur eating. saw the pics of the giant pizzas u had on the pics arth brought ( cant remember where it was but it was the fist place they were made?) - they looked amazing. but mostly well done u two on using ur italian. clearly dads passed his language skills down to the dolata kids!! sounds like ur really going for it, keep it up - ul be speaking the language fluently in no time!! hope ur both ok, stay out of the way of the police in the future!!! love to you both fran xxxxx