It was our last full day in Palermo and we had so many things we wanted to do but such low energy levels. I still felt completely depleted after our crazy day yesterday. I had ear marked a few things in advance such as Monreale for the mosaic duomo, Erice a medieval town perched high on a hill with a stunning sea view and Trapani which is a beachfront town which is apparently really beautiful and I wanted to see the Cappuccine Monastery.
Yesterday after all the drama had been resolved we'd promised Luciano that we'd have a coffee with him . He was at the station and so delighted to see us, he took us to his favorite café and ordered coffees and cornettos , Eric went to pay and Luci was very upset and pushed him back to the table. I meanwhile had nutella squirting out of my cornetto in all directions, I vow I will never eat another one in public.
Luciano had to go back to his spot in front of the train station to try to drum up business but first of all he took us to the bank. We wanted to do something with him in the afternoon but didn't know what as we'd run out of cash money and had to locate a bank to do a withdrawal. Luci marched us over to a bank where the 3 ATMs were inside a cubicle which was monitored by an armed private guard. There was a very long line each person was questioned by the guard about his/her business and they were either permitted to stay, enter the bank or leave! Luckily after Luci's intersession Eric was permitted to stay.
Cashed up we purchased our bus tickets to see the Cappuccine Monastery. Sorry to quote my man Rick again but Nina (Eric's mum ) and I had been fascinated by a program we watched on this bizarre order. Apparently even in this day and age the devout can request to leave their earthly body here. Eric was not really impressed with my macarbe choice of excursion.
We paid our €3 entry fee and timidly crept through the dimly lit tunnel. I am sorry but I took 3 disrespectful sneaky photos. There were about 6 chambers each one was for a designated group, i.e. religious, professional, virgins, families, children etc. I'm only guessing but I think that a type of taxidermy is done to the bodies. It was terribly sad to see them in their favorite clothes. I had to make a rapid exit when Eric came across a recent corpse. Prospective inmates choose their spot in advance to see if it resonates for them.
It was time to go, we were a bit downcast and since our connecting bus left from outside a church which had both Arab and Norman influences. The chiese had been built by King Ruggero and the walls and ceiling were decorated with ornate mosaics. Since we were in the area we went on to have a look. The cuppola was amazing and even non churchy Eric was impressed. The Royal Apartments were closed and a temporary art exhibition adorned the walls downstairs so we didn't linger. It was filled with the who's who of Palermo's cultural elite.
I'd have to say apart from the mosaics the highlight of that €10 experience was the great conversation I had with the toilet monitor about the large cotton tree shading the toilet block. He was very pleased with my attempts at Italian and he said "brava linguista" . We caught the free storico bus back to the Stazione Centrale.
This would have been a simple retell but I was the victim of a PICK POCKET. Now the predator was very fashionably dressed with zigzag shaves on the sides of his head to show his swag. He had a bomber jacket hung over his arm, and tried to brush it against me casually to lull me into a false sense of security. So upon the 4th casual stroke he used his thumb and pointer finger to gently slide my zipper open. Now he didn't know that beneath what appeared to be a tired old woman lurked a vigilante. As he gently slid my zipper open I flicked his hand and gave him the stink eye and turned my bag so it was beside Eric. I kept unwavering eye contact with him as I felt too self conscious to scream or cause a scene. Mr PP jumped off at the next stop.
Back at the station Luciano was unfortunately still on siesta so not wanting to wait for an indeterminate length of time we hopped back on the bus and got off near the marina which was quite close to our apartment. I'm lucky Eric was so kind as he gave me his VB jumper to wear as it became quite nippy all of a sudden. We strolled along the sea wall watching the cargo boats and clouds play out their show. Brisk winds tugged at us so we walked back to the sheltered area behind the row of sea view buildings.
Once we were behind the first row there was a bustling hive of activity going on . The street was lined with food vendors and two competing seafood restaurants . The old men sitting at thrir outside dining tables were busy drinking birra and eating street cooked artichokes. Battling fatigue we decided to have a mini nap, and after braving the steps we put on the timer and fell asleep almost instantly. We had planned to do half an hour of packing but chose to sleep that away as well.
Prompted by the timer we showered and were soon in a quandary about where to have our last meal in Palermo . The first spruiker didn't have the dishes I was after and as I'd sussed out Tonino and Bepinos menu previously we crossed to the other side. Due to the scorned spruikers eyes burning holes in my back we had to sit inside.
It was a Friday and in honour of Serges fish Fridays we had a grilled platter to share and a pasta each. The staff were very pleased to hear that Eric's mum was Siciliana and when we paid our conti they refused to take the full amount. That was a very happy memory seeing how they embraced one of their own people so instantly.
Packing looming over our heads we had to cut short our constitutional walk after dinner and hiked up the detested steps to our hour long task. I'd booked the train to Catania that afternoon and we were catching the 733am train. I'm quite a nervous traveler so I found it very hard to drift off to sleep that night knowing that we had to be on our way to the station by 645am!
