Palermo, Executions, Sightseeing buses

Post 6 of 6. Note: Begin with Post 1 and move forward.

Since I covered Athens in Post 1, I shall skip to Palermo on Sicily’s northwestern tip, our last stop before heading back to Barcelona for our return trip to New York. Here we decided to take the Hop On-Hop Off double-decker tourist bus for 20 euros each. We had done this in Barcelona 2010 and it was fun.

While one can quite easily see Palermo on foot although with a height and limited vista disadvantage, a tourist’s curse—limited time—makes a tourist consider faster alternatives. However, we still hopped off and on only twice before hopping back on to return to the ship. In other words, one still needs to walk a lot to cover all you want. But, still to maximize the bus advantage, we did almost a full round and got off at the last stop (no. 9 on Via Roma: Mercato Vucciria in front of the San Domenico Church) and then began hitting landmark numbers 3 (the famous Quatrro Conti and the stunning Piazza Pretoria and its splendid fountain and I think at one point, we also wandered into a lovely church whose name I don’t know, and no, it was not Cappella Palatina or any of the other famous ones that dot Palermo every few meters; I’ll try to match the pics we took with the pics on the Web and eventually get it) 8 (Cattedrale), 7 (Palazzo Reale a.k.a. the Palazzo dei Normanni with a quick side trip to the Villa Bonanno across from the Reale and the nearby San Giovanni degli Eremiti) and then walked back to 4 (the early 14th century Norman Gothic Palazzo Steri: In the 17th century it was the seat of the Tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition, a function it performed until 1782) south of 3, all on Via Viottorio Emanuele.

Nearby was the park (Garibaldi Garden) with its massive banyan and other trees and bushes and flower beds where at one time common criminals were hanged and aristocrats (e.g. In 1397, Baron Andrea Chiaramonte, whose ancestors had built the palace, by the King of Aragon, Spain) were executed. Here prisoners, apparently, were interrogated, tortured, and sometimes burned at the stake for heresies both real and imagined. On this beautiful bright sunny day, however, I saw a young pleasant-looking mother pushing a stroller and her son in it trying to communicate his distress over whatever through loud crying. After they moved past a few feet from me, I approached them with a large freshly baked chocolate cookie I had carried with me from the ship. The mother protested with the gesture that suggested to me that the kid had no teeth yet. I looked at him and he looked old enough to have teeth. But anyway, I still insisted she take the cookie and additionally, gave her a muffin as well, as I gestured to her that this was soft fare. She took them both and went her merry way. I visualized the joy the boy would feel when he tasted those goodies.

After covering number 4 we hopped on the bus again after waiting for the bus for about 20 minutes and taking in the sights and sounds of the neighborhood. Once again, we went around town, taking in the sights and the audio explanations pouring into my ears from ear phones given to all tourists when they board the bus. The audio explanations punctuated by Bach's Brandenburg Concerto numebr 3, one of my favorite musical pieces. What are the odds? I should hear a favorite piece on this short bus ride I thought.

Passing number 2, the famous Teatro Massimo again, we were back at number 1, our first and last stop. Off the bus, we walked back to the ship and did a little souvenir shopping along the way.

Oh, what a glorious experience the whole trip was! How fast even the horse carriages traverse those narrow roads! Oh, yes, one small sidebar: In Sicily, unlike some other Italian cities, one can use the toilet in coffee shops for free. One does not have to buy anything.

At the end of our dinner that night, we bid adieu to our dinner table friends Gil and Lily and Ann and Colin, with whom I am in touch, and the restaurant staff Edin and Paes who waited on us for 12 nights straight.

On my way back from Barcelona to New York I read, and saw two movies: The Tree of Life and Midnight in Paris, which I really, really liked. I’m a Woody Allen fan anyway, and have liked most of his films, including Vicky, Christina, Barcelona, which I saw last November after my return from Barcelona, a city I had fallen in love with. Had I planned it right I could have finished watching Patiala House, a Hindi movie mishmash set in London, though I doubt it would have ever ended. Bollywood has a very long way to go before it can make a crisp and engaging film. Sorry, Bollywood!

Home Coming felt good as well.

Ciao!