Day 2

Palermo has over 140 churches, did you know? Well I did as my new alarm clock went off at 7am!! Well I was starting to wake any way and it seemed that getting up early was a good idea so you beat the height of the sun. I went to a lovely coffee bar (called Coffee bar) right on the corner of Vittorio Emanuele) and had a cornetto with piastachio cream (basically a croissant) and a cappuccino then headed off to the Palazzo dei Normanni. Ok Seriously Sicily, why are all the entrances ‘around the back’ but with no signage?? I am starting to think we over sign post in the UK because hey, I would always find the entrance eventually.  Any way this is the first and only attraction I saw with a security set up like ours. They had body and bag scanners so very serious. Anyway it is free with ICOM card but not the exhibition. I was disappointed to discover that the Royal apartments were closed and there was only a notice as you stood in the ticketing queue. It meant that only the Palatine chapel was available to see. Lovely and glided but the royal apartments had more of the Arab/ Norman stuff I had wanted to see.  I am glad I didn’t pay full price. At 12.00E I would have been a little annoyed! So then I went to the Cathedral. Beautiful inside and out with only an extra charge for roof access (guided tour only) and the royal tombs. The roof is great for photos and easy to navigate. The museum was great, it had the Aragon crown and the royal tombs are just, you know tombs but the crypt was cool (both to look at and feel). Worth 8E. I returned to the apartment with granite (almond - nice) from a small stall on Vittorio Emanuele and planned my afternoon. I had expected Palazzo dei Normanni and the cathedral to take longer so wasn’t sure what to do. Since things start to reopen at about 3pm I headed off down Via Maqueda were I brought a hat which managed to not be too weird looking on my head (I have a sticky out ears so hats look strange) and then went to the Teatro Massimo (opera house) where I went on a guided tour (discount when you use ICOM card BUT be specific if you want to do more than one tours, backstage, terrace etc as they refused me but I think because they thought I wanted a discount on all the tours so say you will pay full price, negotiation seem to be a thing here). Like Budapest, the opera house is beautiful and vast with four tiers of boxes alone!! A royal box with its own private room. The beautiful fresco ceiling opens like a door to allow in fresh air. We also got to see the stage all set up for their new show (starts Friday 16), Madame Butterfly which was very The man in the high castle/ post WW2 which will work brilliantly. I am sad I won’t get to see it!. I then headed off to find the Museo Archeologico which again had a hidden entrance.  It was free again with a ICOM card but there is only one floor at the moment as they are doing a refit of this former monastery. Shame am I want to see the lovely painted ceiling and you get a small glimpse but still worth a quick visit and open over the lunch period. On the way back a stopped for coffee and a Cassatina (think a mini Princesstara) from a great place called Don Gelato and then more Granite at a shop which had a wide variety of flavours on Via Vittorio Emmanuele (I had Watermelon) and then went to my neighbours house, the Palazzo Conte Federico for a guided tour conducted by the Contess herself! Lovely and spoke English, German and Italian and was infused with love from her home showing us around through the beautiful rooms, highlighting the sign Verdi picture and Richard Wagner piano (he played it when he visited). She also showed the Arab/Norman tower attached to the house. I was very impressed by the two original full sets of 1920's travel cases!! The Conte is a vintage race car fan so there was a lovely car in the courtyard. SO lovely!!
I then headed home and got ready for another night out. This time I went to the Trattoria Vittorio Emanuele and had sea urchin and spaghetti (I remember being told that the pasta is designed to work with the sauce but spaghetti I don’t get). Anyway it was nice, sea urchin tasted like mussels, a little salty and crunchy if you get a spike! The wine I had with this was a little sharper but fine.  This was a more expensive meal so I went to get ice cream form the little place again and headed home.  At this point I realised that eating out in Palermo was like eating out in London expensive. I didn’t feel I had found a supermarket to make my own meals but I thought if I stay out all day and ate earlier in the evening the street food places were still open. This was cheaper and would make my money go further.