Post 11: A Side Trip to Piazza Armerina and the Villa del Casale

    Today, the sun is out again, temperatures are cool but nice, up to 68 later in the day. We are getting ready to drive out about 30 miles South to Piazza Armerina:

   The main attraction besides the old hill town, is the World Heritage site of the Villa del Casale, the largest full set of Roman Mosaics in the world. Discovered in the late 19th Century buried under 35 feet of mud, the site was not fully excavated until the 50's, and turned out to be a major archeological site: about 30,000 square feet of the best preserved Roman Mosaic work. It is assumed that it was actually more like a summer Palace for the brother of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
   We started with the Archeological Museum in Aidone, housed in a wonderful old convent with an attractive chapel:

    The Museum houses Artifacts dug in the nearby 400 BC Greek city Morgantina, and is quite impressive. The main find was a huge statue made of limestone for the dress, and marble for the arms and head. It is assumed that the hair was cast in bronze, but it has not been recovered. An amazing multi media feat:

    Another thing I loved is the way they displayed the  few remnants of some statues, with a rusted wire body and fabric draped over it. That's all you need to make a 2400 year old Greek face,  hand and  foot come alive beautifully:

      I am telling you, Artwise, everything had already been done over 2000 years ago. We think we are being original as Artists, and we are actually just rehashing the same old stuff! 

   The collections included much pottery and clay figurines, a few bronze fibulas, bone pins:

     This small primitive clay "Ariane Aslep":

reminded me of our own bronze reproduction (sitting on my bedside table) of the Huge Roman one standing in front of the Vatican Museum in Rome, itself a copy of a later more elaborate Greek Ariane Asleep. Not to mention my own multimedia interpretation.

   Strangely, there was not a single piece of gold jewelry, and I asked the curator why, showing him my 2200 years old Roman earrings... He said there actually was some, and after having me leave my camera at the desk, he put a finger on his lips, told me not to tell anybody, and led us to a closed room where a display case was filled with exquisite 400 BC Greek Gold earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. I am not sure why they hide them... May be they can't afford an armed guard!

    The visit of Morgantina itself was really not much more than a walk in the sun through the wild flowers and piles of stones. Still, it gave a good idea of the size of the antique city. We just looked at it from the top. The snow capped Aetna is in the distance:

   After a lunch of mortadella and prosciutto crude in an eucalyptus grove, pushed by a bottle of Siciliano Vino Bianco:

,we finally made it to Piazza Armerina and the Villa Romana del Casale early afternoon. It is a World Heritage site, and the mosaics of the huge Palace are quite amazing. 

 This floor, as most floors in the private apartments of the presumably pedophile owner show all young boys:

      This medallion is a little sexy:

      That one on the other hand is a rather strange. At first, I thought it was a woman with long vaginal labia, but it seems to be a guy instead with even stranger genitals...

   I guess Bacchus was kind of screwed up, or is it Pan? Who the Hell plays the Lyra?

Post 10: Riding to some Old Towns North of Enna

     Today, we took a drive around a counterclockwise loop taking us through some old mountain towns North of Enna:

    Nothing earthshaking there, mostly a fun ride through the very verdant Sicilian countryside:

   Amazingly, even though there are still patches of snow close by, the cactuses are crowing like weed on weathered rocky outcrops and the wild flowers in full bloom:

 Actually, I was glad we had a big-wheel-high-off-the-ground Opel crossover instead of a little Cinquocento, as the GPS got us on a tiny country road that turned out even worse than the one coming up to Enna, barely wide for one car, and at times completely washed out. Either winters up here are so harsh that they can't cope with the damage to the roads in a timely manner, or they don't give a shit and just put up semi permanent warning road signs. Most of the bad spots did not seem to be very recent at all. So again today, some fun all terrain riding!

    From some of the higher elevations, we could see the Etna in the distance, still all snow capped, behind hillside villages (left):

    In Nicosia, the Cathedral had a magnificent Chapel entirely covered with small marble mosaic:

as well as a very attractive tortoise shell reliquary housing a few bones of a local Saint Felice, enclosed in a larger marbleized reliquary:

We visited Gangi, Petralia Soprana, a medieval village with great doorways and walls to photograph for my Architectural Detail collection, and an unusual small church with a baroque portal and very colorful skinny spires(ceramic tiles, or modern LED's?...):

   We made it back to Enna early enough for Rachel to read and nap, and me to put my Blog up to date, with a couple of snuggles to warm up, as the heat in the room quit working, and it is on the cool side up here...
  I am afraid this blog is turning out to be a little too much to handle. It takes me too long to run the pictures through Photoshop and all, and I refuse to just post mediocre stuff. I just spent several hours getting up to date (I was already a day and a half behind).
  If I have to choose between keeping it going, or reading some good Sicilian books, taking a nap, and snuggling a bit, the blog may get behind, or abandoned, and that's too bad.
  I bet you don't care anyway!
  Now, I am having a Kir, one of my last ones, Cassis not being available in Sicily.
  Ciao!

Post 9:Palm Sunday in Enna

  We slept late, and din't find out till afternoon that Spring  Time Change had taken place during the night, so we missed all the morning processions... No worry, there were plenty left to see... Though with a dozen different Brotherhoods processioning from different churches along different routes all over a town maze, it isn't always easy to catch them...
   After some coaching from our host, we finally managed to find the departure point for the BIG 5 o'clock procession, and followed it up the narrow streets all the way to the Cathedral. You have to kind stay ahead  at first. Once you stop and watch the Penitents, the big float with the statue of Christ and the band go by, your only choice is to run up the sides street till you get ahead to see it go by again... We managed to do that a few times, following the locals: 
                         http://youtu.be/sLqnbjEOhnU

     It takes close to 100 men to carry the heavy float,, walking together with a wide swag at the beat of the Funeral music played by the following marching band, guided with ropes:

 and they are packed tight as sardines:

   They are now in the last stretch, and Christ has been lit, as it's getting late:

    Everybody is waiting on the steps of the cathedral:

   Getting the huge float up into the Cathedral takes a special maneuver, all the bearers turning around so Christ goes in facing out:

 and the float goes up the steep steps leaning at times a good bit left or right:

    Dropping Christ is out of the question...

  

Post 8: A Drive up to the Mountain Town of Enna

    Today was  our last day in Palermo, and we missed much of the treasures of the city,  but were glad to leave it nonetheless because it is just too busy and the traffic is crazy. But we wanted to catch a couple more sights before hitting the road.
   First, we paid a return visit to the Catacombs, which have not changed in the last 40 years, all the dead bodies are still hanging on the walls:

 The monks who run the place have gotten with the times, and when I tried to sneak a few unauthorized pictures, the voice of God came over the loud speakers and said: "Mister, please no take pictures!". I only then noticed the security cameras...
    Our next visit was to Montreale. We almost din't make it there, as the GPS didn't seen to know Palermo's most famous site. I finally noticed a street sign saying: "DUOMO Montreale". OH! I re entered it under that name, and sure enough, here it was. God damn dumb GPS! Second, the place was a zoo, between the Saturday market and upcoming Palm Sunday, and there wasn't a parking space to be had anywhere. We made a couple of passes, with harrowing drives around tight corners in extra narrow streets. The paint marks on the walls bore witness to the countless close encounters with multicolored car doors and fenders. As I was about to give up and leave missing one of the world great wonders, a car left right before me, and I grabbed the parking space. We were a long way from the cathedral, but made it back there for a short visit. Splendid mosaic work, but somehow lacking spirituality:

   It was eleven by then, and we still had to make it back to and through Palermo in major Saturday traffic to find the road to Enna. The ride through verdant mountains with a lot of yellow wild flowers was very pleasant, with both sun and dark clouds at the same time:

   The road was almost impassable at times, with deep pot holes, and whole sections washed out. We had seen much worse, and just let the "Guatemalan Mode" kick in... At some point, there was a sign that it was just closed. There was a car stopped there, so faced with the alternative to turn back and drive a long way around, we asked the locals. They said we could make it to Enna if we drove carefully, so we proceeded along, pretty much the only car on this remote mountain road... In Sicily, as in much of Italy I suppose, road signs, stop signs, one way signs are just mere suggestions...
    Anyway, long story short, after 20 or so miles, the road got better, and we made it to Enna. Well, not so fast... Another road blocked with no warning stopped us about 1 mile from Enna. When flagged down, another native in a little old yellow Fiat 600 told us, "not to worry, just follow me", then pushed the road block just enough to squeeze through, and up we went following him on the closed road. Apparently, some rocks fell down a couple of days before, and the Authorities didn't want to take any chances. I am beginning to understand Sicilian. A road block just means: "Proceed at your own risk, our ass is covered in case something happens!".
     The GPS took us right to the B&B door. We were at first rather disappointed in the room, which seemed very dark, rather tacky decoration wise, cold and damp. It was the room I booked no doubt, but pictures can be misleading, and make things a lot bigger, brighter, more cheerful, and much better than they really are(AirBnB'ers beware):

   Plus, "The View" shown on RBNB, which I thought was the view from my balcony, turned out to be the view from the promenade down below the town square... 
   Stupid me, I thought I was getting this:

    But after some adjustment time, once the radiators on, and after a first miserable night, things are looking up. It isn't so bad after Rachel's redecorating(mostly moving the ugly shit to a drawer), and the view over the roof tops from our three windows is quite charming:

 The bathroom is actually quite nice:

Post 7: A Day Trip to Bagheria and Cefalu

      We were lazy this morning and snuggled up late. May be it had to do with the two bottles of Vino Bianco we sample before and during dinner. It was raining, so we just walked a block to the same restaurant and just ordered different stuff. We were not as lucky as the night before, and my Spaghetti with Tuna Eggs was not nearly as tasty as the one with Squid Ink. Rachel's Roast beef was thin and huge, but rather tough and stringy, and we had to ask for "stuzzicadenti"(what a nice word for toothpicks) to clean up. The owner was beaming to see us there two nights and a row, and offered us a specialty of Grilled Mozzarella. We had a difficult situation there, not wanting to offend him, and not wanting to eat the damn piece of fried rubber either... So we pretended to munch a little and it slowly disappeared in a paper dowel deep into Rachel's handbag.
   The weather report for the day ahead was decent, so we decided to take a day trip to the Villa Patagonia in Bagheria, which we remembered with great fondness from 38 years ago, and on to Cefalu, weather permitting:

   We still managed to leave by 9:30, and first went by the Antique shops I had seen yesterday, but they were not open yet. So we programmed the GPS, which took us all around town in rush hour traffic to get us on the way to Bagheria. 
   The Villa Patagonia is an amazing place, and it is still exactly the way it was 38 years ago, deserted, badly maintained, but still unique and atmospheric. The grand room with the double vaulted mirrored ceiling and the walls of marble and faux marble glass mosaic is still as impressive. The bestiary of weird creatures around the walls is still as fascinating. A very special place indeed:

We drove on to Cefalu on the Autostrada, the coast being an industrial mess in this area. That is a very old town on the water with a network of very narrow streets going back to the Middle ages, and a great Norman Cathedral, unfortunately closed. We had a lunch of fresh fish on the harbor, and walked back up from there along the old fisherman houses up to the cathedral:

 I photographed some great doorways, and we bought a wonderful traditionally woven palm from two kids going door to door with bucketfuls:

Post 6: First Day in Palermo

   I got up at seven and let Rachel sleep while I went out to find us breakfast and basic supplies, like a few bottles of Sicilian vino bianco... My hopes of finding a nicely stocked supermarket nearby were dashed. For one thing, Sicilians don't seem to get up that early, and most everything was closed, except a very basic bakery that happened to also sell milk. So breakfast was cookies and milk.
   Actually, there doesn't seem to be such a thing as a super mercado in town. After walking around most of the day, we have run across a lot of souvenir and trinket shops, lots of jewelry shops, pharmacies, eyeglass shops and bars, a few restaurants, dozens of churches, but no supermarket. We ran across a couple of "mini markets" stocked up with about two dozens of eggs (for sale by the piece), a few bottles of water and coke, tuna fish, soap, and cheap liquor. I don't know where the locals get their food.
   Anyhow, after I wrote yesterday's post on the computer while Rachel got ready, we started our day around 9 walking up the two blocks to the cathedral, in front of which stands a gaudy cart made of plastered wood carrying the statue of city patroness Santa Rosalia:

    The Cathedral itself is a big styleless(or should I say style confused) mass built, modified, and added on since the 11th century, with a mishmash of different chapels and altars inside. It even was a mosque at one point.
   The treasury contained some interesting items, in particular a very old embroidered dalmatic and bishop hat, and the 13th century beadwork crown of a long ago queen:

   The crypt was huge and filled with stone coffins.
   We kept walking North to the Palazzo dei Normandi, which was moved with school tours. The Royal Apartments were closed, so all there was to see besides the arcades around the courtyard was the Cappella Palatina, a 12th Century wonder of gold mosaic work:

An "interesting" addition to the tour was a show of Botero religious paintings called "Via Crucis". I am no fan of Botero, and have always found his paintings of rotund women with tiny faces rather ridiculous, but his paintings of fat Christ and Saints are even more so. He would have been burnt at the stake for blasphemy had he lived under the Spanish Inquisition... However, I like his sense of humor, which unfortunately appeared totally missed on the respectful visitors and their guides. His dollar green obese Christ on the cross in front of the Manhattan skyline was my favorite. I can't say I like it, but it's funny:

   The wound to the heart strangely moved from left to right depending on context...
   Things an Artist has to do to become famous...

   We then started walking back towards the BnB planning to rest a little and drop the extra clothing that kept us too hot. We packed a lot of warm clothes, and it seems we may not need them. Not that it is actually that hot, but it is so muggy from the rain of the last few days that the slightest effort makes you hot and sweaty. Most Sicilians are still dressed like it is winter...

   Unfortunately, there are very few side streets in this part of town, and we ended up so far down Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle that we continued towards the water instead, looking for a Supermarket. 
  We stopped to see the incredibly baroque Chiesa del SS Salvador, all colored marble and stucco work:

 with exquisite marble floors in an infinity of geometric patterns:

     It also had an incredibly elaborate vaulted ceiling with both three dimensional figures and painted triangular panels and medallions:

On each side of the entrance were the largest and most magnificent pair of holly water fonts I ever saw:

We finally got tired of looking at store windows, and cut across the Vucciria area market and down to the harbor. We were by then looking for a quiet place to eat, but restaurants were scarce. We ended up stopping at the first decent looking one we ran across, and had a leisurely lunch of salad, mussels, delicious pasta with sardines, and leathery fried BIG squid legs with a lot of suckers, finishing with a frozen cherry mousse. There was an interesting and very attractive partial fresco on the vault painted in 1992 to look like remnants of an old fresco in a style reminiscent of Dali's:

    We were apparently in the wholesale jewelry district, and went into a very old junky looking jewelry store:

   It was packed with stuff, and we really had a good time looking through the amazing array of supplies: strings of every color stone, pearl and bead imaginable, and  thousands of findings. We ended up buying 100 Euros worth of odd shaped and colored pearls, bones, silver findings and such. I will have to make some stuff for Rachel when I come back home.
   By mid afternoon, we were tired, and rode a "scooter taxi" home to rest.
    While Rachel slept, I went on the Internet looking for the supermarket we never found, and discovered there were only three in all downtown Palermo, all on the edge of the old town. I walked to the nearest one in the rain, and returned with some wine, yogurt and strawberries, exhausted from the walk on slippery uneven sidewalks, the dodging of cars crossing each street in rush hour traffic, and the nearly as fierce handling of umbrellas by pedestrians... We have met the nicest people here, as long as they are not behind the wheel of a car or on a scooter!
    I happened by accident on a flea market and antique mall where I saw some nice old Santons. We will go back in the morning to check them out.