Places You'll Go: Sicily!

Good morning friends and travelers! During our November 2008 Mediterranean cruise we are up to Thursday, Thanksgiving day and we spent Thanksgiving 2008 in Sicily. Now, if I could figure out how to get the theme from The Godfather to play throughout the time you spent reading this post today, I would. But you will just have to imagine it in your mind. Or maybe, find a recording on YouTube to play in the background as you read this.

I had always heard that Sicily was the home to the Italian mafia. But I never imagined that it was a source of pride for the Sicilians. We visited Palermo and it seemed that everywhere we turned, there were Godfather t-shirts for sale on street corners. I suppose they consider it their claim to fame. But I thought it was bizarre.

Market scene

On this day we had a short excursion that should have become even shorter because the church that the excursion was supposed to visit was closed for repairs or restoration. So, we drove past it but didn't even stop. But I guess they decided to drive us around a little longer to make up for the church being closed. Unfortunately, we didn't stop enough times to take photos in my mind. So I would have preferred to have just had time on my own or to have done a HOHO bus. Basically, we drove up a hill where there were a lot of cactus and they let us out there to take photos.

Cathedral of Palermo

Then they took us to this restaurant for coffee that was really neat. But since it wasn't open to the public so early in the day, you just got a small piece of this cake that was already made and coffee. There was no menu to choose from. You got what they had. Then we took photos there. After that, they took us back near the pier and let us off the bus. Palermo was a pretty place and could have been very interesting. I think if I went back, I would do the HOHO bus for sure. A couple of our dinner companions did the HOHO and said it was good. Anyway, these photos are some of the places we sped past but didn't stop for.

The rotunda of the Cathedral of Palermo

We actually slowed down for the church in the photo below. I think it must have been the one that was closed for restoration. But we did not stop. Two photos down you can see our ship from the place we stopped up on the hillside. This was also the place where the cactus were. The tour guide spent a lot of time talking about the prickly pear fruit on the cactus. I honestly can't remember what was said now. But they do get fruit from there. That is what I can tell you that I learned on that day in Sicily.

Once we left our tour, we were on our own with no map and we spoke no Italian. So, we asked our tour guide as we left the bus which way we needed to go to get back to Quattro Canti which we had sped past on the bus and wanted to take pictures of. We were given general directions and then we left.

We found a place on the street with one of those "You are Here" maps and were able to get our bearings a little better. But to be safe, I took a picture of the street sign at the location we knew we needed to make it back to so that we could find our way back to the ship. Thank God for digital cameras.

The picture of the water was taken from the hillside after we had passed the cactus. The structure in the water is the restaurant where they took us for our cake and coffee. Again, it was a nice place. I just think it would have been nicer to have just sat down and had a regular meal.

The photo to the right is the one I took of the street sign so that we could find our way back to the ship. Once I got home, I liked it and decided to keep it rather than just deleting the photo I took while in a near state of panic. The building below is the Teatro Massimo. It was just a very big and pretty building.

In the photo to the right, at the other end of this street you can see the bell tower of the Cathedral of Palermo. I really liked the streets of Palermo. Everywhere you went there were trucks of fruit and veggies stopped and they were selling out of the back of them. While we were on the bus, the tour guide told us as we set in a traffic jam that was being created by one of the trucks stopped in the street that the police make them move on when the see them stopped like that. But until that happens, they just stop where ever there is a good crowd and start selling.

Below is the Quattro Canti that we had been looking for since leaving the bus. It is the main intersection in Palermo and each of the four corner buildings represent a season. The facades are amazing. If you look hard you can see Jenny in the photo below talking to a couple. Those were two of our dinner companions who we ran into while at this site.

I think that there is probably a lot to see in Palermo as well as other parts of Sicily that we did not see at all or only glimpsed from the outside as we drove by that might make it worth going back for. In case you haven't been able to tell from my commentary today, I did not enjoy our excursion in Palermo. I thought that we could have seen and done a lot more and even been better informed if we had gone out on our own. But in a foreign country where we didn't speak the language and with only a limited amount of time, neither of us were willing to take a lot of chances.

Palermo was the last stop on the cruise. And since it was Thanksgiving we were looking forward to Turkey and Dressing on the ship that night. So, we headed back to the ship early to get ready for dinner and relax for few minutes in the Champagne Bar before heading to the dining room.

Piazza Pretoria

Jenny at Teatro Massimo

Yum! Olives for sale on the street. I got some and they were delicious! This is so much better than anything you can get at Central Market or Whole Foods!

Okay, on the Amalfi Coast I was obsessed with the bougainvillea, but in Palermo, it was the rubber trees. The trees in the photo below are rubber trees like you grow in a pot in your house. Sometimes in a pot in the house, I can get one 2 or 3 feet tall with 20 or 30 leaves on it, you know, before I kill it. In Sicily, apparently they grow wild and they are as big as oak trees. Ants can't move these rubber tree plants!

Another rubber tree. Unbelievable!

To the left is a picture of our ship from the back as we were docked in Palermo. As I said a few days ago, this was my first time on Voyager. But I have been on it again since. I did enjoy this cruise. But it was unlike any other cruise I have ever been on before or since. It was more of a floating hotel room that just moved you from one port to another so that you could do your sightseeing. It was never warm enough to be out on deck for any extended period of time. This is one of the reasons, that I question my ability to go on an Alaskan cruise. I am a whiny baby when I get cold. We had a balcony room. But we really only used the balcony in the mornings as we were arriving at a port to go out and take pictures of our newest location or take a photo as we were leaving the port as you see below when we were leaving Palermo.

The next day was our only day at sea and it was VERY rough. The weather was bad and as a result a lot of people became seasick. We even attended a napkin folding class where the instructor didn't make it because she was seasick, so another crew member came and led the class instead. Below is a picture from our balcony on that last day at sea.