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:
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:
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