Fern e mike a Palermo – Giorno 3 – Sept 3 2013

Buonanotte. Hi All –

So the heat is beginning to get us. It’s in the high 80s and very humid; after about 3 hours walking around we feel as if we are going to die. I’m not very good after 70 degrees and the humidity just adds to the problem. Give me winter travel any time over summer travel. (Maybe I won’t say that in December when we are in Tibet in the snow, but honestly I’m happier in the cold when you can always bundle up.)

Began our day at around 9 am walking down the Via Marqueda (a broad street in the new section of Sicily), stopping at a small café where they are always dumbfounded that we don’t drink coffee and that Mike orders milk (which they then warm up as if they are going to add it to a latte.. and then they give him several packets of sugar for his non-coffee). Sat outside where we were quickly approached by a young family begging (there’s actually quite a bit of begging in the streets).

We then walked to Le Vucciria (supposedly the oldest market in town) but it was definitely not thriving. From there we walked to the water’s edge — taking our lives in our hands crossing traffic. As I said, pedestrians are for sure the lowest on the food chain in Italy — where motorcycles and cars reign supreme. We then meandered our way back to the hotel criss crossing the Loggia neighborhood and some other rather colorful areas; we stopped at two churches (no weddings today) including San Domenico and walked from piazza to piazza — eventually getting to the hotel at around 1:30 pm totally drenched in sweat and feeling pretty exhausted. We decided to have lunch at the hotel and to cool down in the air conditioned room before heading out again… a very good idea.

We headed out at about 4 when there was a slight breeze in the air. I had researched a list of craft places which became the goal. Naturally, no matter how good the map, we could never find these places which were all in tiny alleyways.. but the goal was good as it took us through a variety of neighborhoods – some upscale and some pretty marginal. I’d say there’s easily one church for every five people here in Sicily.. but most are in great need of repair, closed, with cars parked nearly on their stairways and markets at the entrances. The big grand churches all function, but these smaller ones are like remains from another era.

Not too many tourists this time of year.. or at least not very many Americans. We do hear Spanish being spoken so maybe the tourist base is heavily Spanish in September.

During our walk, somehow Mike and I got separated. which would be fine, except that Mike had decided to help me out by carrying my bag which had my wallet, my cell phone and one camera (as well as cosmetics)… so when we separated I couldn’t call him and he couldn’t find me. I headed toward where we were going and he decided to stay put.. So I walked about a mile before deciding to turn around. When we reconnected, he claimed that he thought I stopped at a store so he was waiting across the street. I had NOT stopped at any store.. but the humor of it all is that the store he was pretty sure I went into sold punk clothing!  Just my style! He’s still convinced that I went into that store.

Eventually we made it back to the hotel at around 8 pm… and at 9 we walked to the restaurant that was closed last night.. BellOtore. A really good local place filled with upscale Sicilians. We shared: marinated shrimp with mint and ginger; whole wheat pasta with assorted fish and vegetables; tuna “tartare” (although it wasn’t raw as expected) composed with tomatoes and potatoes sitting in a basil cream, and homemade pistachio ice cream.. By the way, lots of pistachios cooked in everything.

Tomorrow we are renting a car and headed to Erice overnight.. We’ll be back in Palermo on Thursday night and head to Rome on Friday afternoon.

All is well. Still eying those Fiats although the Citroens look pretty good (but not sold in US).

Will stay in touch.

Arrivederci alPalermoper nessun-

Fern