Day 3 - Monreale & Palermo
Today we visit the north coast of the island and during our journey we will experience some wonderful scenery. A rugged wild landscape, scorched by the sun and remarkably empty of both man and beast. Firstly we visit the magnificent Benedictine Abbey at Monreale, founded in the 12th century. Still used today, it boasts outstanding medieval mosaics covering almost the entire interior, depicting stories from the Old Testament. If you can manage the steps to the roof you will have a superb panoramic view of Palermo below, the surrounding countryside and onwards to the sea. The cloisters are another highlight, surrounded by columns, no two of which are alike, almost Moorish in appearance.
During the afternoon we visit Sicily’s capital, Palermo, which under Saracen and Norman rule became one of the most important cities in Europe, famous for the wealth of its court and as a great centre of learning. Today it has more of a 17th century appearance and during our visit we see the Norman Palace, a gorgeous former Royal residence, now the seat of the regional government and the Cathedral dating from the 10th century. We return to our hotel for dinner.
Again, ca.3.30am, I woke up with the buzz of mosquitoes — in stereo! —
zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! in one ear; zooooooooooooooo! in the other. In the morning I noticed several spots, which I attributed to mosquito bites, especially on the left arm, but some on the shoulders and right arm, and a few elsewhere.
Janet had some: fewer than I did. (A woman in the Riviera party, though, had fairly severely swollen red lumps.) There were birds singing, including the familiar sounds of blackbirds and sparrows, but also many with which I was not familiar, especially one, which I called a “sneezy bird”, because its song was
a-CHOO! a-CHOO!… Janet had set the alarm clock to 6.00am, and she got up
ca.6.15am. I used the bathroom after she vacated it, and we went for breakfast
ca.7.15am. After that we returned to the room till just before the scheduled 8.00am setting-off time.
Friday 5 June 2015 08:39:08
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 08:41:04
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 08:46:44
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 08:46:44 (detail 1)
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 08:46:44 (detail 2)
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 08:59:04
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 08:59:04 (detail)
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 09:18:58
Views from the coach
Friday 5 June 2015 09:20:50
Views from the coach
The red (lower left) is plastic netting fencing off areas for road construction.
There was much road construction in Sicily — widening, straightening, and making dual-carriageways — sometimes causing delays at temporary traffic lights. After travelling
ca.1½ hours we had a refreshment stop at the facilities of a petrol station. 50 cents was the going rate for the use of toilets in Sicily; sometimes one paid an attendant, sometimes there was a bowl to drop a coin in. Rather annoying was the practice at these places of having to queue up at the till to pay for items one wanted, then take the till receipt to the counter and wait to be served with those items.
Friday 5 June 2015 09:49:52
Refreshment stop
More red netting betokening road construction
Friday 5 June 2015 09:49:52 (detail)
Refreshment stop
Friday 5 June 2015 09:52:16
Hilltop wind turbines, seen from the refreshment stop
As we approached the outskirts of Palermo, before turning left to go to Monreale, Denise pointed out Capo Zafferano to the right of the Gulf of Palermo and Monte Pellegrino (“pilgrim mountain”) to the left. She also mentioned the Conca d’Oro (“golden shell” or “basin”) in which Palermo is situated, so called because of the abundance of oranges and lemons grown there, but now marred by much building of dwellings. We stopped in a coach park just below Monreale, and were led up steps and steep, narrow streets to the piazza, where ahead of us to the east was the cathedral. It had a Renaissance façade (partly hidden by scaffolding), though the building was begun by the Norman king of Sicily William II in 1174; and the mosaics of the interior were Byzantine in style.
Friday 5 June 2015 11:07:32
Walking in procession to the centre of Monreale
Friday 5 June 2015 11:09:00
Walking in procession to the centre of Monreale
Friday 5 June 2015 11:11:40
West façade of Monreale Cathedral
The visitors’ entrance was on the north side, where we queued up and were issued with radios and earpieces.
Friday 5 June 2015 11:12:58
North side of Monreale Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 11:14:20
Queuing to enter Monreale Cathedral
William II presents his cathedral as an offering to the Virgin Mary.
Our guide for this visit (whose name I’ve forgotten) led us in and sat us down in the nave to tell us something about the place. The sound quality in the earpiece was crappy, as it usually is with these devices, but for the most part the guide’s voice was audible without it. I took some photos from that position.
Friday 5 June 2015 11:18:16
Monreale Cathedral: View east down the nave to the apse. Above the side arches are scenes from the Book of Genesis.
Friday 5 June 2015 11:18:34
Monreale Cathedral: Half length figure of Christ in the semi-dome of the central apse; and, below, seated figure of Virgin and Child, flanked by angels and saints
Postcard with a detail of the seated figure of Virgin and Child, flanked by angels and saints
The Greek inscriptions mean:
“The archangel Michael” — “Mother of God, the All-Immaculate” — “The archangel Gabriel”
Friday 5 June 2015 11:21:42
Monreale Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 11:21:54
Monreale Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 11:34:24
Monreale Cathedral: The text in the left hand of Christ reads: (Latin, left:) EGO SUM LUX MUNDI QUI SEQUITUR ME NON AMBULABIT IN TENEBRIS; (Greek, right:) ΕΓΩ ΕΙΜΙ ΤΟ ΦΩΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ Ο ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΩΝ ΕΜΟΙ ΟΥ ΜΗ ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΗΣῌ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΣΚΟΤΙᾼͅ (John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness…”).
The guide led us to the right of the nave, where there were the tombs of Sicilian kings William I and William II. I took more photos from this position.
Friday 5 June 2015 11:47:28
Monreale Cathedral: Porphyry sarcophagus of William I of Sicily (the founder’s father), contemporary with the church
Friday 5 June 2015 11:48:24
Monreale Cathedral: Right apse…
Friday 5 June 2015 11:48:32
Monreale Cathedral: …and above
Friday 5 June 2015 11:50:42
Monreale Cathedral: The founder William II’s tomb, erected in 1575
Friday 5 June 2015 11:52:22
Monreale Cathedral: Scenes from the Gospels
Friday 5 June 2015 11:52:52
Monreale Cathedral: Scenes from the Gospels. Some scenes have been hidden by the 1967 organ
We moved forward toward the altar, where I took the next few photos, before leaving the building the way we’d come in to hand back our radios.
Friday 5 June 2015 11:55:28
Monreale Cathedral: Ι[ΗΣΟΥ]Σ Χ[ΡΙΣΤΌ]Σ Ο ΠΑΝΤΟΚΡΑΤΩΡ (“Jesus Christ the Ruler of All” or “Almighty”)
Note the hand-gesture, typical of Byzantine-style “Christ Pantocrator” images.
Composite image
Friday 5 June 2015 11:56:08
Monreale Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 11:56:32
Monreale Cathedral: ruler’s seat
Friday 5 June 2015 11:58:12
Monreale Cathedral: Christ crowning William II king
Friday 5 June 2015 12:04:00
Monreale Cathedral: Nave, looking towards the west end
Friday 5 June 2015 12:06:14
Monreale Cathedral: The Virgin Mary accepts William II’s offering of his cathedral
(cf. “11:14:20”).
We returned to the front of the cathedral, and entered the abbey cloister next door. Before we did so, though, there was an incident on the balcony of the cathedral façade. Someone had climbed up there and was sitting on the balustraded wall of the balcony. Two men went up on a “cherry picker” and tried to talk him down, but when he refused they left him there.
Friday 5 June 2015 12:09:42
Monreale Cathedral: Incident on the balcony
Friday 5 June 2015 12:09:42 (detail)
Monreale Cathedral: Incident on the balcony
Friday 5 June 2015 12:09:42 (detail)
Monreale Cathedral: Incident on the balcony
Friday 5 June 2015 12:10:22
Monreale Cathedral: Entrance to the Benedictine Cloister
Friday 5 June 2015 12:10:50
Monreale Cathedral: View above the entrance of the Benedictine Cloister
Friday 5 June 2015 12:10:58
Monreale Cathedral: Two men on a cherry picker attempt to talk the intruder down.
Friday 5 June 2015 12:11:50
Benedictine abbey: Fresco in a recess in the entrance hall
We walked along all four sides of the many-arched cloister, each arch supported by pairs of white marble columns. In the first side, there were a few people doing restoration work. The guide pointed out four kinds of decorations on the columns, some carved and others in mosaic, representing the four classical elements: air, fire, earth, and water. She stopped by many of the columns, pointing out their capitals — no two alike — and explaining what they represented, whether biblical story, allegory, or historical event. She likewise talked about the fountain in one corner, and also pointed out the garden, divided into five parts, a round central feature and four quarters each with a significant tree in the centre. She explained what each of the four meant, but I’ve forgotten what she said. Perhaps the pomegranate tree represented the Garden of Eden, the olive tree Gethsemane,
etc.
Friday 5 June 2015 12:12:50
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey
Friday 5 June 2015 12:19:08
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: Restoration work on one of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:20:52
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:21:16
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:22:18
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:23:08
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:23:48
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:26:58
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey
Friday 5 June 2015 12:28:46
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:29:00
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:29:50
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:31:26
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey
Friday 5 June 2015 12:31:40
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey
Friday 5 June 2015 12:33:04
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: Fountain
Friday 5 June 2015 12:34:12
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: Fountain
Friday 5 June 2015 12:36:04
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:37:58
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the capitals
Friday 5 June 2015 12:42:36
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: Central feature of the garden
Friday 5 June 2015 12:42:46
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the four quarters of the garden
Friday 5 June 2015 12:42:54
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the four quarters of the garden
Friday 5 June 2015 12:43:02
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the four quarters of the garden
Friday 5 June 2015 12:43:08
Cloister of the Benedictine abbey: One of the four quarters of the garden
I wanted to give the guide €5, but because the smallest denomination I had was €20 I didn’t give her anything. We left there, and first of all we located the route back to the coach. Not far along that we sat under cover outside a trattoria/pizzeria. While
Janet was in the loo the waiter came and I ordered a pizza which included “fried potatoes”,
i.e. chips in British parlance, on the top and a “würstel” (a small
Wiener Würstchen). I had a birra alla spina and Janet a Coke Light. When the pizza came
Janet thought it was “gross”. I didn’t think much of the “würstel”, but enjoyed the rest.
Friday 5 June 2015 13:15:26
Lunch
Friday 5 June 2015 13:15:38
Lunch
We descended, to where the coach was parked, in time for the 2pm departure. We had a brief coach trip through Palermo, during which Denise pointed out features as we approached and passed them: city walls, Porto Nuovo, Teatro Politeama,
etc. I found that frustrating because I wasn’t able to line up the camera and photograph any of them save the Norman Palace.
Friday 5 June 2015 14:02:56
Seen from the coach: Conca d’Oro
Friday 5 June 2015 14:22:52
Seen from the coach: Palazzo dei Normanni
We stopped near the cathedral and had free time to visit it. Some of the façade and half of the porticoed entrance were hidden by covered scaffolding.
Friday 5 June 2015 14:27:18
On the way to the cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:27:24
On the way to the cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:29:34 (movie screen-capture 1)
A look round the piazza in front of Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:29:34 (movie screen-capture 2)
A look round the piazza in front of Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:29:34 (movie screen-capture 3)
A look round the piazza in front of Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:34:56
Palermo Cathedral: The nave, looking forward
Friday 5 June 2015 14:34:56 (detail 1)
Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:34:56 (detail 2)
Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:34:56 (detail 3)
Palermo Cathedral
I looked at one or two of the side-chapels, some with relics and some with tombs.
Friday 5 June 2015 14:37:48
Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:38:26
Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:39:08
Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:40:26
Palermo Cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:41:06
Palermo Cathedral: One of the depictions of the Stations of the Cross between side-chapels
Friday 5 June 2015 14:43:56
Palermo Cathedral: The nave, looking backward
Friday 5 June 2015 14:45:28
Palermo Cathedral: Meridian (not the “prime meridian” as is the case with the meridian marked on the coastal path at Cleethorpes), interspersed with images of the Signs of the Zodiac
Friday 5 June 2015 14:46:12
Palermo Cathedral: Example of the Signs of the Zodiac on the meridian line
We’d been told about the priest Giuseppe Puglisi, who had been killed by the Mafia because he had spoken out against them, and we saw his tomb in Palermo Cathedral. When the gunmen approached him, he said, “I’ve been expecting you.”
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
Friday 5 June 2015 14:48:06
Palermo Cathedral: Tomb of “Beato Giuseppe Puglisi Martire”
Friday 5 June 2015 14:48:06 (detail)
Palermo Cathedral: Tomb of “Beato Giuseppe Puglisi Martire”
Friday 5 June 2015 14:48:16
Palermo Cathedral: Tomb of “Beato Giuseppe Puglisi Martire”
We returned to the coach and were taken to the environs of the Teatro Massimo opera house, where we were deposited for another half-hour. We were not best pleased at this delay setting off back. We had a drink at a café on the piazza opposite the Teatro Massimo, under shade from the very hot sun, and availed ourselves of their loo while we were there.
Friday 5 June 2015 14:51:26
On the way to the coach from the cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 14:52:04
On the way to the coach from the cathedral
Friday 5 June 2015 15:28:40
Teatro Massimo
Because of the time it would take to get back, dinner, we were told, would now start at 8pm.
Janet isn’t able comfortably to eat a substantial meal late on, so we were most displeased. And the service at that hotel was so very slow that we didn’t anticipate finishing till
ca.10pm. Denise also told us the arrangements for tomorrow. Breakfast would be available from 6.30am. Luggage had to be at the coach for loading by 8.30am. Our departure time would be 9.00am. Because of the limited availability of guides, and the need to get to Taormina by a reasonable time, the visit to the Villa of Casale near Piazza Armerina would take place early in the afternoon, so lunch would be even earlier,
ca.11.15am–ca.12.15pm. We had a comfort stop after some two hours at a different petrol station from the one on the outward journey.
Janet had in mind to buy bread and bananas, and some other sandwich-filling for me — we did that in Perú — and skip dinner; but they only had largish, very crusty loaves, and we had nothing to slice it with.
Janet was well annoyed by the time she’d queued for the till to pay for some diet cola to take back. I also queued for the “privilege” of paying for a little slip in order to wait again and present it at the coffee counter. (I remember doing that at some point, but it may have been on another, later occasion.) As we were getting off the coach at the hotel, a member of the hotel staff approached and told Denise that it wouldn’t be possible after all to serve dinner at 8pm; the choice was 7.30pm or 8.30pm. The group decision was for 7.30pm.
Janet and I were quite happy about this “unfortunate” change of arrangements. One or two people had already left the coach and weren’t aware of the change back to 7.30pm, but it made no difference; by 8.00pm we still hadn’t got beyond “antipasto”. Before dinner I transferred 84 items, 82 photos and two videos, from the camera to the
WD Elements HDD (19:08–19:12). Looked through them with Windows Photo Viewer, and rotated one photo that needed it (19:20). I “decorated” the bathroom ceiling with the corpse of a mosquito, swatted with my
Tetley’s hat. It was surprising how long and thick a black smear such a tiny insect made. There were two, somewhat less smeary, “decorations” on the bedroom wall too. (Nevertheless, during the night, we were again disturbed by more than one high-pitched buzz in the ears.) We went to the restaurant at 7.30pm.
The choice of “primi” was “casarecce pasta[i] with
speck[ii] and almond pesto” or “risotto with shripms
[sic] and zucchini”. We both chose the former. For “secondi” the choice was “chicken roll with herbs and
primosale[iii] cheese” or “grilled swordfish”, and I alone chose the former. But I was getting full, and I’d drunk the glass of wine I’d ordered earlier and had no liquid with which to “wash it down”, so I had to leave quite a lot of it. That meant, though, that we were back in the room
ca.9pm. Janet did the packing of suitcases as much as she could, and was satisfied with what she’d accomplished. We went to bed
ca.10.30pm.
[i] Short lengths of pasta with an “S” cross-section
[ii] German for bacon. I don’t know why the menu didn’t say “bacon”, for the English word “speck” in this context means “fat meat, especially strips of bacon for larding meat” — and bacon can also be lean — or “the fat or blubber of a whale”.
[iii] “First salt”, i.e. relatively immature: a sheep-milk cheese of Sicily and Sardinia
