3/13/18

Today, we journeyed to three small towns: Monreale (Royal Mountain), Segesta, and Erice. In Monreale, we visited a Cappella Palatina 2.0, as well as a monastery courtyard. The mosaic church was enormous! It exhibited parallel mosaics to those depicted at Palatina, as well as demonstrated the royal wealth of William II hundreds of years ago that lives on to today. The monastery courtyard contained dozens of marble pillars surrounding green hedges and palm trees. Each pillar held a unique style and ornate design. In Segesta, we visited an ancient citadel and temple inhabited by local Sicilians aligned with Athens thousands of years ago. We first hiked up to a temple that the locals built to impress Athenians, which according to Boyd, was a “fake” temple, as it was never truly finished. Surrounding the high temple was a beautiful green valley, with various farm land and pastures. After seeing the temple, we took a lunch break, where I happily ate my two brioche with mortadella that I packed, and made some friends, or the two cats pictured in this post. Next, we took an even longer hike up the mountain to see an ancient, preserved theatre, where Greek tragedies were performed. An incredible view stretched out beyond the theatre, capturing both the pasture, and eventually, “il mare”. After Segesta, we took the bus to Erice, a very small mountain town engulfed in fog. Gavioli and Boyd surprised us with a cooking class and visit to a cooking school down the street run by an ex-nun named Maria. Here we learned to make traditional Sicilian “dolci”, and after baking, we ate an incredible spread of Sicilian “assaggini”, but we were all so stuffed by the end of it. After the dinner, we returned to Hotel Elimo, and passed out.

3/12/18

Today, was another well packed day. Our group headed to the Capella Palatina and the Palazzo dei Normani (royal apartments) first, in which we found very detailed and beautiful mosaics made hundreds of years ago under the reign of William I–apparently it took approximately 15 years to produce! I enjoyed the intricate biblical depictions of the mosaics, as well as the unique shapes and colors of the marble floor in the Capella. After quickly browsing through the Royal Apartments, we made our way to the Palazzo di Lampedusa, a royal palace, in which one of the authors, Lampedusa who wrote the Gattopardo, lived with his family. One of my favorite parts of the tour was a visit to the Dutchess’s kitchen, pictured in this post, where the Dutchess hosts cooking classes for about 4 hours for 150 euros… When we left the palace, we unfortunately got caught in a torrential rain storm — thankfully, I brought my umbrella. When it finally passed, we finished off the day to a brief trip the the Zisa, a series of gardens and a building with Arabic-style architecture, and briefly stepped inside the central Cathedral before returning home to rest.

3/11/18

Today marks the first full day in Sicily, specifically in the city of Palermo. We arrived pretty late the night before after a full day of traveling, so we all were overcome with tiredness and “pigrezza”, as one would say here. Nonetheless, we had a day packed with activity. To start off, we walked through the narrow streets of the warm city, filled with bustling crowds, and the sounds and smells of the morning. After stopping by at various notable piazza’s along the way, we made our way to Palazzo Steri, a French-inspired prison and palace. The prison housed 20 men and women, and one of the most remarkable aspects of the place was the rooms covered with beautiful charcoal and colored powder drawings of various biblical references and figures. My favorite drawing, pictured in this post, was the “not-so-accurate” map of Sicily that juxtaposed a very detailed map in the adjacent room. The rest of our day was filled with an anti-mafia tour, or “addiopizzo”, a trip to a puppet show, and a dinner of traditional Sicilian street food at the Focacceria di San Francesco.