Palermo, Sicily (Italy)

Palermo is a huge city that has a ton of sites, but generally people know nothing about them except that they are beautiful and old. The architecture from all the different periods is well preserved for those things that survived the wars over the years. The city has certainly been inspired by Arab and Spanish influences as you will be able to see from some of the photos. From the ship we got on a tour bus to check out "mysterious Palermo"...as that was the name of the tour. We were to sight see from the bus and visit three major sites of La Zisa Palace, the Catacombs, and an old historic Church called St. Maria dello Spasimo.
Our first stop was La Zisa Palace. The castle was built in the 1100's by Arab craftsmen for Sicily's King William the 1, but was later inhabited by Spanish rulers that my improvisions to the structure. It was named Zisa because it is an Arab word that is transalted as "noble or magnificent". Here is a view of the front.
We weren't allowed to take many pictures inside especially on the second and third floors, but we did get one as we came in.

And in the front of the palace it is open to what was a fountain, and here is a photo of the architecture above that fountain.

Apparently there used to be vast gardens in the front of the castle and now there are a few...but it is mostly rock and sand. Here I am in front with the older buildings of the city behind me.

From there we took the bus to the catacombs that were very gross and creepy. Thank goodness for you pictures were not allowed to be taken in the crypt. I think it was super gross to see 8000 dead bodies from hundreds of years ago dressed up like dolls for all to see. But apparently that was what you did for a distinguish burial in those days. Napoleon put a stop to this when he ruled the area for health reasons. But if you go you should skip it...nasty.

From there the bus took us around the city showing us different sights. Here are just a few...

The sand colored stone is called Sicilian stone as it is what most of the buildings are built out of and is native to the island. Our last stop was St. Maria dello Spasimo. It is an old catholic church from the 1500's that was only a church for so long. It was heavily bombed during the war and was partially destroyed as was most of that area leaving it uninhabitable. Instead it was used durimg the plague to house the sick to quarantine them from the rest of the city and now is used as an outdoor performance hall. But it is really beautiful. We weren't allowed to see all of it as the Scirocco winds had come through from Africa and the structure needed to be checked for safety. Here is a photo from what used to be the altar.

And TJ and I in the old church's courtyard.

I was surprised that Palermo had so many things to see. Before we went, all of the Germans told us to stay with our group as the mafia runs rampid in still and it is not always safe. We did stay with our group but others didn't and they were fine. I assume it is like Rome and the mafia leaves the tourist areas alone as that is where some of the money comes in. Who knows, bu I liked it there.

After we returned to the ship, I sunned for a couple of hours before dinner and we rested up for the night. There was a salsa party on the pool deck that started at 11:00 pm and went into the night. I only stayed for a minute because it was a bit windy and chilly, but this is what it looked like...

The band was really good and the activities staff were helping people with their salsa. And there was food...tons of food. As if we hadn't eaten enough! It was a great day and a fun night! The next day was our last day on the boat that we spent at sea back to Barcelona. More on that later!

Auf Wiedersehen!