24 September Walking in Palermo

It was our bus driver's mandatory day off so our guide walked our legs off. I've already forgotten the names of all the places we visited but it was pretty spectacular.  First we went to the major crossroads, Quattro Canti. We got our first close up look at Palermo's magnificent palaces. They are almost universally covered with centuries of grime.

This is is Autumn - the season and the statue.

We passed the Fountain of Shame, an artwork which conservative Palermo thought was way too rude.

Then we walked into a convent church which was decorated in berserk baroque. 

We explored the convent and took in the view from the roof. 

On we wandered, noting the way the Normans had stuck a dome on top of a mosque when converting it into a cathedral. This end view shows the geometric decoration and the ex-minarets.

Inside another Norman Church we found Byzantine style mosaics.

Another church had the grave of Falcone, one of the two heroic magistrates blown up in the Second Mafia War in the 1980s. Schoolchildren had left letters. Much later we found the men memorialised in street art.

We found other street art too.

At lunch, eating al fresco on the edge of the street, we enjoyed an impromptu performance by a brass band.

In an oratorio we found stucco masterpieces. This is St Lawrence getting a grilling.

A highlight of lunch was arancini. 

Then we dragged our weary feet to a palace museum which featured a ceiling with decorated wooden beams, a famous modern artwork of lovers meeting in the market and the cells of the Spanish Inquisition. The latter are still covered with the graffiti of their unfortunate guests. 

We had aperitivo by the harbour and staggered back to the hotel. Lyn and I treated ourselves to tea and biscuits in the lounge.

Tonight is not organised so we plan a quiet one.