Day 1 Afternoon, Sept 26, 2024 Monreale Cathedral

Afternoon, still day 1 of our tour.  Our itinerary reads: This afternoon head to Monreale Cathedral, ascending on foot to see its majestic Byzantine mosaics.  Then, it's our choice!  Explore the cathedral's cloisters, taking in their serene atmosphere of the monastic complex - OR - ascend the southern tower to the panoramic terraces for a bird's -eye view over Palermo.

Once we were done with the guided tour, we could explore on our own.  This cathedral is considered to be the best example of Norman Architecture.  The building began in 1174 by William II of Sicily.

It was elevated to the Archdiocese of Monreale in 1183, and completed in 1267.  Since 2015 it's been part of the Arab-Norman Palermo and the Catholic churches of Cefalu' and Monreale UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There were two Sarcophagi, but I wasn't able to get a picture of the 2nd one. Both William the I and William II of Sicily are there.

It was quite colorful, with incredible detail everywhere you looked.

I opted for walking around the cloisters, while hubby climbed the southern tower.

Time to meet up with our traveling companions and board the coach to return to the hotel.  We were told no sleeveless tops, no shorts above the knee.  Our estimated time to arrive back at the hotel was 5:30 where we would have dinner on our own.

I tried to load the video hubby took of the birds eye view, but couldn't get blogger and the video to play nice.  Sorry folks.  Just a picture instead.

Day 2, Palermo, Sept 26-2024 Capo Market

Day 2 of the tour, Breakfast started at 7 am and we were to meet at 9:30 in the lobby to begin our walking tour:

Our itinerary reads: Begin your adventure tasting your way through Palermo's lively markets on a walking tour unveiling the city's historical center and introducing you to traditional  Sicilian street food, which layers Oriental and Norman influences with local produce such as wild fennel, olives, and spices. 

Our group of 24 was divided into 2 groups, one group of 12 and one of 10.  A couple of people opted out.  The 2nd group was lead by Francesca above, who was very cute and animated.  She was full of information and shared with us her childhood memories of the area, the food and the vendors.  Group 2 was a bit delayed departing due to some technical issues with Vbox.  Standing with Angelica is Vera and Joe from Australia.  Visiting Sicily was especially important to them as they both have family in Sicily.

We started with The Capo Market, which was very colorful and busy with lots of fresh vegetables, and fish and other goodies.

Here they were squeezing fresh juice

I don't know what dishes we were looking at, but everything looked colorful and fresh.

We sampled as we walked the market, stopping at several vendors as we listen to Francesca tell us about the history and food.  Wasn't able to get pictures of those stops, as our hands were busy eating.  Here we actually sat down.  On the left front to back is Don, Mike, Kathy, Joe, Vera.  Across from Vera is Steve, Susan, Lucille, I was beside Lucille and then Ernie.

She's showing us wild Fennel

Olives, that aren't edible as they've not been processed.

We had a meat pie of sorts, a potato...sorta like a pancake, grapes and other fruit.

Continuing our walk through the market you can see the variety of foods...naturally pasta.  I'm in the black on the right with a straw hat.

Taking pictures as we walk, you can see how crowded the market was, though we were told it's not as crowded as it used to be.

Lots of yummy goodies

Check out the huge cannoli!

While this isn't the best of pictures, you can see the longevity of this families business in the market.  Francesca remembered being here with her grandmother who knew the original owner.  It's still the same family.

By this time we had entered the 2nd market, but I don't remember the name.  There are 4 historical markets in Palermo: Capo, Ballaro, LaVucciria, and Borgo Vecchio.  We had 2 ladies in the group, Anne and Lynn who are quilters.  They really wanted to stop and see some of the fabric shops we passed, but we kept walking.  

A street alter.  They were beginning to prepare for a holiday festival and parade.

We stopped in a little bar to have some desert wine.  I'm not generally a fan of sweet/desert wine; but it was rather tasty and refreshing.

Walking on you see vendors grilling

You pass more goodies

Then we stopped for quick desert break and had delicious cannoli's.

Time to board our coach to return to the hotel.  Hubby liked that our coach was scarlet and gray, Ohio States colors, lol.  We'll have time to freshen up (30 ish minutes), then re-board the coach to make our way to Monreale Cathedral.

Since this post is heavy with pictures, the afternoon at Monreale Cathedral will be the next post.

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