These are the bells of Monreale!
This cathedral is a about 10 kilometers outside of the center of Palermo. It was completed in 1184 after only 10 years of work. We took a bus up there, as it is up on a little mountain. This is an incredible place!
The thing that makes this place so much more than others is all that you see, is ceramic mosaic!
Even the intricate details of a stone curtain! Almost all of the inside of this church is inlaid pieces of ceramic, 1/2 inch or less! It is mighty impressive. And again in only 10 years of work.
After looking inside we decided to pay for the terrace tour. We thought that it would be outside on a ground floor terrace garden,
.
But instead we
got to climb up
through old
secret passages,
Where we could
look out over
the terrace
garden,
Or look out over Palermo.
And beyond………., the Tyrrhenian Sea.
But that
wasn’t all.
Then we kept
climbing, up,
up and up,
until we
reached the top!
Nancy looks pretty happy there!
And the view was stupendous!
After all of the self guided tour through Monreale, we were left pretty hungry.
The little town of Monreale offers some pretty good eats,
This was easily the best meal
we have had so far.
That is assorted “pesce di mare”
and, “vedura griliata”.
And of course a glass of wine.
The wait for the return bus was over half an hour, so we decided to walk the 10 km back to Palermo. It was getting dark by the time we hit the city, and there was a big religious celebration,
They carried this statue through the city with drummers, and horns, and followers,
and everywhere it was lit up,
I think it was all about her!
This festival continued until about 1:00 in the morning, with additional noises to include fireworks in several different places around the city. It was a tough night sleep.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the international gelato festival. The final is held here each year, and there are more than 50 different gelato makers. On two of the main streets, which are closed, they have booths where you can try the many flavors, some very unique,
Nancy’s favorite was a licorice flavor, and mine was a passion fruit. But all were really good, and there were even some of the alcoholic variety. Overall there were almost 1/2 million people who attended the event in the 4 days. And almost 20 thousand kilos of gelato was served, that’s over 44 thousand pounds of gelato!
So, for now we’ll say good bye, but look for our next post on more of Palermo and nearby places!
Ciao, from Palermo
Travel Adventures - Gary and Nancy 