In the end we spent 3 days in and
around Palermo, now known as “the big lemon” then night ferry to Tunis, touring extensively in
Tunisia, now known as “no country for old men (or old women)” with 2 more nights in Palermo on the way back.
PART I SICILY
PART I SICILY
We will definitely visit Sicily again
and explore further afield. I think we now know Palermo quite thoroughly and really
found it wonderfully atmospheric in its mostly dilapidated charm.
Arrived at Palermo for breakfast...cannoli of course, messy but delicious.
Then we checked into Hotel Orientale, situated on one floor of a grand old baroque palazzo on Via Maqueda, built in the 18th century by an ancestor of Lampedusa. The courtyard and beautiful staircase remain the same, somewhat dilapidated but still impressive, the hotel was rather faded and most of the rooms had been converted from larger spaces except the breakfast room which still had a peeling frescoed ceiling.
Our room looked down on the stable courtyard still being used as a stable for calèche horses, often accompanied by a few goats.
Time for lunch and fortunately one of the entrances to the Ballerò Street market was right next to the hotel. The market covers a large area of small streets in a multi- culti district which makes it buzz with people and foods from Sicily and far beyond, it became part of our usual walks, it operates 7 days a week.
The street food was delicious; sarde a beccafico, sardines stuffed with nuts and anchovies; caponata, spicy aubergines, peperonata; panelle, chickpea fritters; pizza fresh from huge old ovens; fish galore but especially tuna and swordfish; lots of influence from North Africa with couscous dishes and sticky honey and nut pastries.We tried different foods everyday in the market and chose a traditional trattoria for dinner in the evening, our favourite wine became Nero d’Avola, a deep dark red which was beautiful in the glass and on the palate. Needless to say we gorged on cannoli and Manfred enjoyed “corrected” coffee, caffe corretto, expresso with a dash of aqua dente, plenty of gelato was consumed along the way too, my favourite was al bacio,chocolate and hazelnut.
On 2nd day we felt quite familiar with the city and walked to the botanical gardens, orto botánico, which have been established in the same area since the late 18th century, 12.000 different species thrive in the sub -tropical micro climate, brought from all over the world over two centuries.
The Ficus macrophylla are particularly spectacular, originally from Australia, the Morteton Bay Fig, in fact we noticed examples in many public gardens around the coast.
For a few years now the gardens have been home to a colony of parrots of the species Psittacula krameri, having escaped from the avaries of the nearby Villa Giulia they are perfectly at home in the subtropical habitat of the gardens.
Another curiosity are the Magnolia Bombacaceae, strange trees from Brazil, huge bottle shapes, the trunks encrusted with lethal spikes.
A lovely cool walk under green fronds with the unlikely tropical swalk of parrots.
In the afternoon we went by train to Cefalú, a small town in a spectacular situation on the coast east of Palermo below craggy outcrops.
Aleister Crowley the looney occultist spend some considerable time here in the 1920s. He and two mistresses converted a decrepit farmhouse into the Abbey of Thelema where they shocked the locals with wild rites and rituals.
Crowley and his people were evicted by Mussolini who had no sympathy for either pornographic art or mysticism. Once the Abbey closed, the villagers whitewashed the erotic murals which they saw as demonic. This erased much of the history and work of Crowley. Afterwards, the house was considered haunted and remained abandoned until 1955, when Kenneth Anger, an experimental filmmaker and the sexuality professor Alfred Kinsey located the ruins and attempted to restore the Chambre des Cauchemars (nightmare room). This helped to reveal the past of Crowley’s community, but the sudden death of Kinsey, who had financed the project, caused an abrupt halt to their efforts.
We felt no frissons of fear walking in the shadow of "the beast" but enjoyed a leisurely walk around the pretty port and visited the massive Norman duomo, a much more rewarding experience than the cathedral in Palermo which is the same 12th century date but has been renovated repeatedly over the centuries and has lost its pure lines.
We spent a long time trudging along the port trying to unravel the mysteries of the ferry crossings to Tunis as we preferred to leave from Trapani rather than Palermo, despite info on the web it proved that this was no longer possible so we booked the tickets for the night ferry for the following day and went to Trapani anyway by bus.
Of course we also visited Erice, ancient Eryx, a site
of mystic cults and the main reason for
the establishment of Trapani as a port in 400 b.c. It has a spectacular site
above Trapani and can be reached by cable car, not on the day we visited as it
was too windy, we took the bus instead which was an amazing ride, winding
around the abrupt hillside behind Trapani. Erice is well worth a visit because
of its amazing situation but the village itself
has a melancholy feel with many of the houses clad in grim grey cement
render. The Romans dedicated the town to Venus and the temple of Venus was a
reference point for seamen and pilgrims of the Mediterranean guided by the holy fire that the acolytes of
Venus kept burning. Apparently sailors
came to give tribute to Venus by favouring the young priestesses with their
macho charms. On the remains of this temple, in the XIth , the Normans built Castilo
de Venere which can be visited.
Trapani has a similar history to many places on the coast of Sicily,
founded by Elymians, conquered by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths,
Byzantines, Muslims and in 1077 by Normans let by Roger I.
It flourished as an
important port and had a role in the crusades. By the 17th century
it had declined due to revolts, plagues, and famines, but in the following
century it grew rich through trade and
was largely re- developed in the baroque style. The old town we see today is tightly packed along a narrow peninsular, elegantly graceful in the centre with
many traces of the more ancient past in the fortifications and harbour
buildings.
One more day in Palermo before getting the ferry at to Tunis at 1.00 a.m. We visited the Palazzo dei Normandii and the stupendous mosiacs in the Capella Palatina.
The palace was originally built for the Arab emirs and their harems in the 9th century, on a site earlier occupied by Roman and Punic fortresses.
Eventually abandoned by the Arabs, the palace was fully restored by the conquering Normans. The Palatine Chapel was completed by the Norman king Roger II in 1140.
The mosaiced interior is capped by a splendid 10th-century Arab honeycomb stalactite wooden ceiling, painted with biblical stories as well as scenes of Arab and Norman court life, including animal hunts, dances and a picnic in a harem.
After the Normans left, the palace fell into serious decay until it was renovated by Spanish viceroys in 1555.
The churches of Palermo cover the whole of christian history with many beautiful examples of Arab/Norman design. There was an enormous surge of building chrurches and palazzi during the baroque period not due to the 1693 earthquake which only effected eastern Sicily but in Palermo it was a last gasp of opulence before the absentee aristocracy crashed into bankrupcy due to mismanagement of their vast estates while they were enjoying court life in the city.
Our favourite churches were the ancient ones with Byzantine domes and simple interiors.
San Giovanni degli Eremitii is a charming gem with its dramatic red domes and surrounded by a lush garden of palms, citrus, aromatic flowering shrubs and vines. The original 6th century church was converted into a mosque in the 9th century but became a Christian church again in 1136 during the reign of the Norman king Roger II and entrusted to Benedictine monks.
The cloister is the best preserved part of the ancient monastery, it has elegantly slender double columns with capitals decorated by vegetable motifs supporting ogival arches. It also includes an Arab cistern.
Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio ( La Martorana) and the Church of San Cataldo are in Piazza Bellini. By the way there is a good trattoria in the corner with a splendid view of both churches, particularly striking at night, the pizza is good too.
La Martorana was commissioned in 1143 by George of Antioch, an admiral in the fleet of Roger II, hence the name dell’ Ammiraglio. The church was Greek Orthodox but became Roman catholic in the 13th century. The same mosaic craftsmen who were brought from Byzantium to create the Capella Palatina at the Palazzo Normanii and the Duomo at Cefalu were employed here. Unfortunately many of the mosaics were removed in the 17th century to be replaced by baroque frescoes. The surviving mosaics are amongst the most impressive ever to have been created in Sicily, especially the portrait of Roger II being crowned by Christ. A wonderful campanile is a fine example of Norman-Arab architecture.
OUR TUNISIAN ADVENTURES COMING UP SOON.