Day 2 in the vibrant city of Palermo…A slower start to the day for more than one reason…
A late night, making the most of hotel aircon, awake for a couple of hours in early hours of the morning (sharing the livestream of my daughter in laws dads farewell with my loved ones) and a slightly dusty head from the Italian Moretti beer!
We decided to head out of the buzzing old town towards the sea!
Well the port at least…taking shaded side streets and once again soaking up the culture…
Decorated windows…
Street bar… with this three legged thing (ornament) that appears in many forms in Sicily! It’s called a Trinacria and represents the triangular shape of the country, the centre Medusa head is a Greek mythology symbol to ward off evil…and the wheat between the legs represents fertility…anyway I find some of these a bit creepy! Actually most of them!
Another street bar, dedicated to orange and aperol spritz…a very popular drink here…
Street Art…
Bar art…
Jellyfish streets with brolly art..
Antique furniture and painting art…just creativity at every corner…However the street walking was building up a sweat (both) a sore knee for me and a thirst for all. Getting closer to the sea, there was a welcome breeze and a cafe in the shade!
Jill and the horses…both wearing white hats!
We had a coffee and wandered off to the neighbouring park for a bit of nature wandering…
Shaded with these enormous Morton bay fig trees…growing up and down…roots as big as the branches..
We found ourselves close to “The Antonio Pasqualino Puppet Museum” and thought we would have some light aircon relief and culture time! We were wrong about the aircon- it was hotter inside…but the display of puppets and marionette’s were vast…a snapshot…
A cluster of knights in shining armour…
Shadow puppets….which are played behind lighted screens…
International African puppets…
A pile of puppet parts portraying aversion to war…
The crusades…
And the darker more sinister puppet stories told!
Having not cooled off…we headed to Portside…
Two huge cruise ships in port…possibly explaining the hundreds of people in the old town…but not this part of town on the east port side we found ourselves in the poorer, less fortunate heart of Palermo…. The Portside parks(which we walked through) housed the homeless population…sleeping on makeshift beds, under trees, the odd park bench…with their worldly possessions scattered around them…making the most of the shade and the sea breeze.
Loitering in this area was not an option…and we headed back from where we had come…
Past the old port structures…to a very Sicilian corner cafe…under some more large trees..
Desperately needing more fluid…
A bottle of water later…followed by a spritzer for Jill and a (small?) beer for me! Our waiter must have thought I looked really thirsty if this is the small one!
I found my favourite Italian steamed mussels on the menu for a mere €8….And as always they were delicious….Beer and mussels, what more could a girl want?
By the time we left this cafe there was not a vacant seat…most filled with locals!!
We had a bit of a hike back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta…more water and a cool off!
Once again navigating the street markets and cafes…with eager sellers of souvenir stuff and lots and lots of Tourists! (Like us I guess at this time we are tourists!)
Nearing 6pm now…(yes past 5 o’clock) we know what this means!!!
All who wander are not Lost girls 