March 2019 - day 5 of our Sicily trip. We started in Milazzo that morning and made a early lunch stop in Cefalu. Nice little town, that reminded us of Dalmatian towns. But most significant is the Cathedral with its mosaics. We visited also the local market and continued our journey to Palermo.

We arrived Saturday afternoon. Good for us, since the traffic wasnt as bad as anticipated. From the hotel we started the walk from one site to the next. Unfortunately the concept of charging 8-15€ entrance fee for each site, made it a quick round. We visited the Norman sites from outside, took some fotos and concetrated on the street food, Palermo is known for.

The red roofs of San Giovanni degli Eremiti and San Cataldo are unique for Europe and take you to 1001 night tales. However they are empty inside, so why do they charge so much entrance? The Cathedral looks promising and reminded us of Andalusia, but from inside, a boring baroque church. zje Royal Palace we could only see from outside, it looks a bit deplaced between all the traffic.

Next morning we visited Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio. That was realy magnificent. The mosaics, the painted stard, all the gold. Its like a fairy tale. Just wonderful. The rest of the city is not realy inviting. Many dirty streets, no sights, but a lot of history, very interesting people, and the amrkets are an exceptional experience. I had Pane con la Milza on the Ballaro market, and also tried some Frittura. Things you would usually notchoose from the menue. Palermo is a very exotic space, somewhere between Europe, Middle East, Africa and Chinatown. Definitely worth a visit, maybe you need tpo stay longer to get to know al the benefits.