Holiday Inn Palermo

WE depart Sicily with wonderful memories of sunny skies, blue Mediterranean seas, green hillsides covered with grape vines and olive trees, old cities, castles and greek temples, and of course good food. <br>We will see more sights in Rome, and then travel down the coast to Sorrento and Amalfi. I will post more about the things we are doing and seeing as we continue our trip.

<br>Palermo and the Sicily area<br><br>I absolutley loved Sicily. Palermo is a rough looking city where cars and mopeds try and hit you and nearby is beautiful beaches and towns. However, someone just stole my legendary Bubba Gump Shrimp hat on the bus so I am very very upset and angry!<br><br>Boat from Naples to Palermo<br><br>To start I got the overnight boat from Naples to Palermo. It was a ******* to find. There were no real signs or anything to find the boat and for some reason ...

... seen, some sitting apparently on sheer cliff drops!<br><br><br>Walking back into the toen itself, the charm of the narrow streets &amp; local shops envelopes you....I could have easily spent a half-day in the town itself......we wandered past &amp; thru various shops, again buying momentos for loved ones. Lunch was just the best....we selected a lovely pizzeria on one of the numerous little side streets, we were under a large canopy which did an excellent job of protecting us ...

... we witnessed a funeral procession, where the mourners all walk behind the hearse, rather than drive cars as in the norm back in Australia. A sobering moment, after which we decided to head back into Palermo for lunch &amp; to find the local archeological museum.....alas it was closed for renovations!<br><br><br>Another bus got us up the side of nearby Mont Pellegrino (600m) where there is a castle on one side up high...unfortunately not open to the public. Mont ...

After a nice breakfast at the hotel (included in the overnight tariff), we were picked up by our guide for the day, Salvatore (once again, we turned out to be the only people taking this particular tour today, so we ended up being personally escorted all day!)<br><br><br>Travelled 70km to ancient Segesta, marvelling at the hilltop township ruins, famous Segesta temple, beautiful Segesta theatre taking in magnificent views over towards the coastline, across large surrounding ...

arrived around 8pm at airport &amp; sped (120kph) to hotel by recent model Mercedes! checked in &amp; walked down street to Trattoria for late tea of authentic pizza (delicious!)<br><br><br><br>Next Morning, we were picked up by our personal giude for the morning, Valentina. Well educated, spoke excellent English plus great knowledge of history &amp; architectural styles made for a fascinating morning around the old city.<br><br><br><br>Valentina drove ...

... running in a circle; in the center is a gorgon's head with snakes....). The chaos of the traffic. How old everything is. How people stand and talk in the street, daring the motorcycles to hit them. <br><br>There's also some familiarity. In part, just because it really IS Italy, and so it feels familiar in that way. We know how to order coffee, we have special treats we look for, we drink a lot of wine. But I'm also ...

... a look, a big deal! Not! cuz we get into a doubtful neighborhood with a lot of strange people who looked at us thinking WTF are they doing here... after a few moments of fear we remember that as a funny situation, even so, we really enjoyed Palermo.<br>

... how much time and effort the men put into their appearance. Most look like models, with perfect bodies, perfect hair, perfect eyebrows, perfect outfits. I'm heavily cruised in an airport bathroom. I flee, thinking that Senator Craig from Idaho would have enjoyed this place! Flying into Palermo is beautiful, along a coastline comprised of flat areas with towns between craggy, uninhabited ...

Taking a Break in Palermo After only three weeks the isolation of Marsala was starting to get to me so I went to Palermo for the weekend. It is only about 100 miles NE but takes 3 hours by train. It is inexpensive to get there and I stayed at a cheap hotel in the center of the old part of town. Palermo is the largest city on Sicily, at a population of around 700,000. It is more ethically diverse and there are quite a few tourists ...