I walked all over Palermo today. This morning I spent visiting 2 other markets-Vucciria, which is the most well known, but very small, & Capo, which was mostly clothing & household items, not very exciting. I found the church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, an old church which has a bell tower you can climb up & look out over Palermo. They make you wear a hard hat because when you climb up & down the tiny metal staircase your head hits the steps above. They should provide you with earplugs too, since when the bell rings right by your head it is painfully loud. Next I went I visit the Cappella Palatina in the Palazzo die Normani-a royal palace. The rooms of the palace were closed, but the Cappella Palatina is incredible to see. It is the royal chapel, and is covered in striking gold Byzantine mosaic-everywhere. The detail is amazing, I can't imagine the amount of work & $ that went into decorating it. My next destination was going to be the capuchin catacombs. I followed the via Cappuccini, but saw no signs for the catacombs, so I found a small little cafe & decided to stop for espresso & directions. Then the cassata caught my eye, so I ordered a piece since it is a distinctly Sicilian dessert I've been curious to try. Wow. So so sweet, but so good. It consists of sponge cake filled with ricotta & cream, then covered in marzipan, icing, & candied fruit. Yeah, sugar overload. After my caffeine sugar buzz I went to check out the catacombs, only to find they had just closed & wouldn't open again for 2.5 hrs. Damn. And it's not like I could just come back, because it was a long walk to get there. I'll have to try again tomorrow. So I walked back to the central part of town, revisited the Ballaro market for some veggies, wandered the streets a little, then stopped for lunch at the popular & busy Antica Focacceria San Franceso. Want to know what I had? Rolled eggplant stuffed with breadcrumbs, cacciocavallo, parsley, pine nuts&raisins, baked in tomato sauce. Good, but not my best meal. Something I would like to attempt to cook though. I took a break at the apartment, then headed down to check out the port, wandered a little through the run down Kalsa neighborhood, & decided to visit the botanical garden. So many interesting plants! More massive banyan(fig) trees, tons of cacti & succulents, and a whole lane of my favorite southern Italian tree-magnoliopsida bombacaceae(I have no idea what the common name is). They are these tall trees with trunks covered in spines and they have these huge pink or white flowers that look almost like hibiscus. I saw a few in Campania and more here and was trying to figure out what they were. The botanical garden was nice to visit, but the mosquitos were eating me alive, and then I got pooped on by a bird, and I used the men's bathroom on accident. So after all that I decided it was time to call it a day.
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