Buongiorno
When we arrived a few days ago the first thing I noticed were the Christmas lights, wow, early. However the Christmas markets don't get going until Dec 8 - which is likely a good thing as carry on only doesn't allow much room for souvenirs. I need a table so why am I looking at tablecloths? Plus I have tablecloths. When my mother in law visited us in Germany forty years ago she was really into tablecloths - those were the days when everybody had big suitcases.
On Thursday morning we walked to the Grimaldi lines office - quite a long hike down some sketchy streets. That was the most direct route. It's only 22 C but hot in the sun.
Coming back a slightly longer way was nicer but more complicated, not as much garbage.
So we stopped for a pop at a cafe on our way back and then hung around the hotel for awhile. The English Park is just four blocks from here. We went there hoping to find a pizza without comperto along the way. We sat in the park and admired the big banyan-like fig trees with their twisting surface roots. On a side street we found a deli - a hole in the wall nondescript place. We had salads and they were good. Lots of olives, cheese really tasty tomato. We will come back here tomorrow I had forgotten my phone or I would have taken a picure as this was a nice late lunch. The bill was ten euro and included soft drinks.
15 Nov - for our last day here we walked again to the old town taking Liberty Avenue all the way.
We passed the opera house, it really is a striking building.
We wanted to find a free church and have a look inside. I had found an interesting one online so we searched for it In the narrow side streets. Palermo has been exceptionally flat. How our tour guide the other day found a steep incline for us to navigate was not an easy feat. But going down these maize like side streets where people live and where churches pop up I actually saw the incline -
It seems there is a church on every block. 
We were about to give up when we read this graffiti Tourists = Exploitation. Deep. 
Well it motivated me around another corner and here was the particular church, obligatory gypsy grandma begging out front, less than six feet away from two staff set up at a table to collect admission. The old lady has been given a chair to make her more comfortable, a symbiotic relationship, does she rent this spot?
We aren't paying admission.
We go for coffee instead.
Then we stumbled on a church with free admission, very brief drop in, it's huge, empty, kind of fading opulence
Tick. We went into a church.
On the most upscale street in Palermo some homeless have staked out their spots, one guy shares his space with several dogs. Well they are likely good protection for him. 
Our hotel is less than half a block from Liberty Ave - the so called Champs-Élysées of Sicily - a wide tree lined Ave with upscale shops - a poor step sister to its Paris counterpart but we walk this street daily and appreciate that we are living in a good neighbourhood.
The plane tree of Palermo: platanus orientalis, which grows in south-eastern and south-western Asia. Sicily is one of the most western regions where it has been found naturally.
The plane tree was known in ancient Persia, and is believed to be the species of the "Tree of Hippocrates." They make great Boulevard trees, here on Liberty Ave. 
We went back to the simple deli - very Italian nothing in English - but the guy behind the counter does speak a little English and told us as best he could what the chalkboard menu meant.
This pork sandwich was delicious - lots of bacon, rocket, cheese, fried onion, other stuff:
Sotto Casa Alimentari di Giordano Anna
Guiseppe Garibaldi is a national hero. His statue is across the street from the English Park:
Tomorrow we leave Italy. We are taking Grimaldi Lines to Tunis.
This featured blog entry was written by CherylGypsyRose from the blog Europe on a Budget 2024.
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