Travels

Theater		Theater		The view
Temple			Temple
So there you have it. We had been ruined. Taormina, Siracusa, Villa Romana della Casale, Agrigento, Selinunte & Segesta. We had visited them all. There were many other sites in Sicily that had tempted me but I just couldn’t work them in. Oh, well . . . maybe next time. Now it was time to brace ourselves for the drive to Palermo. And into Palermo at that. I had booked the Hilton Villa Igliea which is on the waterfront at the west end of the harbor. When planning this trip, I quickly realized that hotel to airport transfers were not cheap because it was so far from the city center. So I decided to drop the car at the AVIS outlet near the sea terminal on Francesco Crispi rather than at the airport to save at least one way of the transfer costs . . . While reading Sicily travel reports from posters, there was one consistent theme that was universal: Don’t drive in Palermo . Now I am a Road Warrior. My occupation requires me to drop into strange cities, rent a car & make my way around to customers, restaurants, hotels & airports. Of course, the bulk of this has been done throughout North America but I am pretty good at driving away from home. When our itinerary was coming together, our drive into Palermo happened to fall on a Saturday. This was good news because I could avoid the workday crush in the city. Since we didn’t know our timing for arrival, I booked the rental drop-off for the following morning: Sunday. It was a good plan & worked quite well . . . When we left the Baglio in the morning, I planned to go to Segesta & then possibly – depending upon time & mood – stop in Monreale on the way in. We didn’t finish Segesta until about 1 pm so we decided to nix Monreale & go directly to the Hilton – which was another freebie from Hilton Honors btw. We figured that we could bus out on Sunday or Monday to Monreale. It was a great drive into Palermo with the mountains towering above us on the right & the sea to the left for the drive along A29. The traffic started to pickup just west of the airport. Photo radar warnings on my GPS did too but they were warning about 130 km/hr etc & there was no fear that I was driving that speed. I exited the freeway when the GPS told me to & dove in. Yes, traffic was chaotic. But after many days of Sicilian driving I was pretty used to it by now – although still somewhat apprehensive. Even in small towns this chaos is common but on a much smaller scale. And we had witnessed a similar mania in Roma so it came as no surprise. One lane allows 2 vehicles side by side, 2 allows 3 etc. Motorcycles thread their way through stopped vehicles. Rotaries are a free-for-all but seem to work in some chaotic fashion. Stop signs mean slow slightly & blast through. You pass whenever you can, wherever you can – city street or rural hwy. To enter a road you just keep nosing out until a slight pause allows you to turn. Parking is next to impossible but any square inch is fair game. Anytime you pull over or attempt to turn around, some other driver will be impatiently waiting . . . and on . . . and on . . . We had no difficult getting to the hotel except for its immediate locale. The street was under construction & reduced & 4 roads intersected at strange angles just in front of the hotel without the benefit of a traffic light or a rotary. This made it a bit of a zoo in front. I missed it on the 1st blast by & circled around the corner – with some difficulty. On the 2nd attempt, I sailed right into the valet area & shut it down. We had arrived. Insert sigh of relief here. The Hilton Villa Igiea is a century old Liberty-style villa & sits in a so-so area (more later) in between a mountain & Palermo’s harbor. A grand hotel that has catered to the royal, the wealthy – and HH members – over the years. We checked in with ease & were ushered to our room. Since it was a freebie, we received a room on the side, with a nice view of a palm tree rather than the paying guests who often have patios & wonderful sea views. They scored huge points with my wife when only 5 minutes after getting into our room, a sweets & fruit tray arrived with a bottle of chilled water. Nice touch. We booked Lo Scuderio for dinner at 8 pm & taxied over. Just 4 blocks from the hotel, we went through the most disgusting garbage filled streets I have ever seen anywhere. The smell was atrocious. My wife & I simultaneously looked at each in the back of the cab - startled by the scene. There was garbage in piles, remnants of burnt garbage in piles & crap all over the gutters & sidewalk. It was appalling. Traffic & people were everywhere & going about their business as usual amidst this wasteland. Once we left the harbor area & got up by the prison, things improved dramatically & it was like any other grittier city, but it left its mark on us. Lo Scuderia (Via Turati Filippo, 7 – 091581628) is across the street from Teatro Politeama. I read decent reviews somewhere. And a group of 6 Americans that were also staying at the Igiea must have read the same review because they came in 10 minutes after us. This restaurant felt like they were just going through the motions. The service, the food & the ambience just seemed tired somehow. We shared an appetizer & a primi & had separate meat cortornos + the usual bottle of wine. Not cheap @ 82€. We had been spoiled in Modica & Siracusa with very good cheap meals. Splitting had become our routine because my wife is not a big eater & even I couldn’t handle all 3 courses in one sitting. But we could drink a bottle of Sicilian wine! I think we only had dessert once or twice because it was just too much food. I know, this should not be a problem . . . and it wasn’t, it’s just a fact. So I would rate Lo Scuderia a 6/10. Nothing terribly wrong – except the meat was tough – but no reason to seek it out. The taxi driver that took us had over offered to pick us up at 9:30 pm. We agreed & sure enough, he pulled up on time. His name was Carmelo (Telephone 3898167849). He spoke passable English & bantered on. We expressed interest in going to see the Capuchin Catacombs & he said he would take us roundtrip for 30€. That was basically cab fare – maybe just a tad more. We set a time of 3 pm with him & I got his cell # in case we went into town earlier & didn’t need him etc. Then it was back to our oasis . . . the Igiea . . . for the night.

Day 16 Sunday June 7 We awoke & had a good buffet breakfast – the best we had seen all holiday. We sat outside on the terrace with waiters milling around a finger-snap away. Yeah, I could get used to this. The grounds were truly outstanding & this little oasis (to use the word again) seemed miles & miles away from Palermo which was right outside the gate. But of course, we had to venture out to drop the rental car off at AVIS. So once more, I suctioned the GPS in place & we sped out into Palermo. Well, we tried. The road in front of the hotel was solid with cars heading out of the city to the beach. I sat there waiting for the slightest break in traffic for at least 5 minutes if not longer. Finally, I saw a hesitant driver & a 20 ft break in traffic & I nosed out & away. To avoid the nearby garbage cesspool, I retraced part of our incoming route & then hung a left towards the rental location. Traffic was actually reasonably light & a non-issue but I was tense & ready for vehicular battle. I filled the beast with diesel along the way for 17€. This brought the grand total to 60€ for fuel costs for the entire time of our rental. Unfortunately, I forgot to record the mileage in or out but this seemed pretty cheap considering the price of fuel. Then we negotiated our way to Francesco Crispi, which I had seen the previous night on the way to dinner. With a quick turnaround on an overpass, I pulled it up on the boulevard right in front of AVIS on the north side of FC. Street parking would have been tough & I would have had to do it ½ on the boulevard anyway to allow traffic by. The shop was open with several renters. An Australian was trying to rent a car without his driver’s license. What’s up with that, mate? He had left it in his hotel room & had to phone someone to bring it because he was refused. While I was waiting, a man came out of the AVIS garage & obviously asked the clerk: whose car was on the boulevard? He then launched at me with a stream of arrogant Italian & I calmly said “no capisce”. He gave up & sullenly wandered off. The car was deemed as ‘perfect’ & I secretly smiled thinking about the curbs I drove over & the wall I backed into & the poor clutch . . . Just as I was going to ask the clerk to call us a taxi, one pulled up outside – probably the Australian’s wife arriving with his license. Back to the Igiea we went. Our driving was over. After this mid-morning excitement, we decided to catch some rays by the pool. This was a holiday after all & the Igiea certainly felt like a resort. We were feeling pretty lazy. We did wander down the street again (we had the night before for cigarettes & Coke) to get paninis from the shop around the corner. I say around the corner but it was actually down a very busy road that went around a bend & you had to walk on the street to get around parked cars that blocked the sidewalk & then dash across the street to the shops. This was well before the nasty area so we felt safe enough in the daytime hoofing around – just not too far though. The shop was closed on Sunday though so we grabbed lunch at the hotel. Not cheap but the lunch/bar terrace is a joy to sit on watching the yachts below in the harbor. The food was just so-so – especially for the stiff price. Obviously the atmosphere was included in the tab.
Sunning by the sea			Hotel pool
After some hemming & hawing, we got ready to go see the Capuchin Catacombs. We had seen this on some travel show & thought it looked particularly macabre so we wanted to see it. Carmelo was waiting out front right on time, so off we went. I mentioned to him to please point out any other sites of interest that were enroute to the Monastery. He did one better but I am getting ahead of myself . . . For those that haven’t heard about it, the Catacombe dei Cappuccini is under the monastery & is the ‘burial’ place for thousands of people. They are mummified & hanging from pegs in the wall – all dressed in their funereal finery. Truly, seriously bizarre. There are several hallways of this & many are categorized – professionals, clergy etc. And the star, a 2 year old girl perfectly preserved in 1920. The dates for most seem to be 1850s – 1890s. I will admit I snuck some pictures. Bad, bad me. Capuchin Catacombs. Please excuse the slight fuzziness. I took them without flash so I wouldn’t hurt these works of ????????????? And be forewarned: THESE ARE VERY STRANGE & POTENTIALLY DISTURBING


Back out in the sunshine, it took a few moments to absorb what we had seen but Carmelo was nonchalant. “They were rich people & wanted to be preserved there.” After that we got a great bonus. On his own initiative, Carmelo took us on a driving tour – with commentary – to all of the greatest hits in downtown Palermo. He pulled over each time so I could hop out for photos.
Port Nuovo	Palazzo dei Normanni				Catherdral
Cathedral	San Cataldo				La Martorana
Piazza Pretoria
He drove us by the Teatro Massimo & told us about the Godfather scene with Michael Corleone. And showed us the alleys across the street – now filled with eateries but pretty nasty places not too many years ago. And on the topic of the Mafia, he said there is no real problem there since they only have one Mafia in Palermo . Two would be a problem but not one. And he said that to get a driver’s license/cab license was easy in Palermo. You go to school & learn for 2 or 3 months or you just put 500€ into the right hands. It’s simple. His 'tour' took us through narrow alleys & streets to buildings & piazzas all over the old section of town. He showed us the banyan tree. And told us about Saint Rosalia. We saw it all without walking & with great stories – all from a local point of view. Better than the guide books – not as accurate I am sure - but still better. He dropped us back at the hotel & I gave him 40€ for his 2 hour tour. He was happy. We were happy. For dinner, we decided to go with the atmosphere & pretend we belonged mingling with the Villa Igiea clientele. We had dinner on the terrace & then retired to the bar to listen to the piano player’s repertoire & sip cocktails. He only stumped me with one song all night as we sat under the stars watched the moon over the Gulfo di Palermo . . . I told my wife that she had to call me Don Ian from now on . . .
Day 17 Monday June 8 This was it. The swan song of our Sicilian vacation. The last day. We had breakfast as usual & debated what to do. We hadn’t really seen Palermo except by taxi with Carmelo & a couple of short precision hops by car. But we didn’t care. We hadn’t visited any of the necessary cathedrals - particularly the local biggie: the Duomo of Monreale with its exquisite mosaics, the world’s best example of Norman church architecture & the much-lauded cloisters. But we didn’t care. We had seen enough. We had done enough. We wanted to do nothing but lie in the sun & read our books & work on the tan so it looked like we actually went on vacation. We have never been the type of travelers that have to see it all. You should see what you enjoy seeing. If you miss some, who cares? Buy a postcard or tour it through someone else’s eyes online. Or plan to see it next time. A holiday should never become a marathon of site visits. There shouldn’t be some checklist that has to be completed. I have seen countless itineraries posted online & my main critique of most is the lack of free time. You need to ensure that there are mornings or afternoons or even full days to stare at the sea or to walk in a field or down a wandering alley – completely without purpose. Since we were staying in a hotel that felt like a Caribbean resort, we surrendered & let the day flow. Morning in the sun. We walked to that restaurant mentioned above & got some paninis for lunch. Then we lay in the sun some more. We didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt for our touristic omissions. We had an early dinner/late lunch at the hotel & went to bed at 9:30 pm to prepare for our 6:50 am flight to Roma the next morning.
View from Igiea			View from Igiea
Panoramic stitched view from Igiea
The Hilton Villa Igiea was a superb hotel. Its site. The view. The beauty of the building. The impeccable service. The fact that it was free for us. The big letdown was the food. I can’t say that it was on par with the rest of the hotel. The prices were but not the variety or the quality. The location – like the Cavalieri in Roma does make it tough – and more expensive - to get in & out for touring. Recommended but with those cautions. Day 18 Tuesday June 9 We taxied to Palermo ’s airport. Sure there were cheaper options but the taxi waiting outside the hotel’s door at 5:30 am was painless (albeit 70€) & this day was going to be painful enough. At FCO we rescued our bags & checked in for our Air Canada flight to YYZ. I relaxed in the premium airline lounge with my book (I had finished McCollough’s ‘The First Man in Rome’ since leaving home & was now ½ way through ‘The Grass Crown – my 3rd read of this great series that I figured would put me nicely in context for viewing ruins). My wife gave some euros away to the airport shops for the requisite last-minute gifts for people at home. I know, I know . . . I keep telling her but she keeps doing it. Goodbye to Europe until the next trip.