Palermo continued

Did I mention the church bells that ring 30 times at7:20 each morning? On Sunday they ring 100 times - our wake-up call!

We went for coffee at the coffee bar in La Familia grocery store and when we came outside a street market had sprung up - everything from fur coats to leather purses, books to photographs, and china to trinkets. It was crazy!

We walked over to the Steri Palace as the ticket was included with the botanical garden. On the guided tour we were told that originally called the Palazzo Chiaromonte, it had been taken over by the Catholic Church and became the centre for the Inquisition in Palermo. A building erected next to it served as the prison.

The prison cells were very revealing. There were sections of ancient graffiti which included testimonies from various prisoners to indicate that they had embraced Catholicism. Many of those arrested were Jewish.

These buildings now belong to the university which undertook a massive restoration project.

Then we moved on to the Bishop’s Palace next to the Cathedral. Opulent is the only way to describe it. As we walked through the various rooms a very talented piano player was performing on the sidewalk and his music was drifting in through the windows adding to the experience. Also attached to the ticket was the cathedral treasury and the crypt.

Later we managed to take in a guided tour of the Teatro Massimo - the third-largest opera house in Europe. It seats over 1300 people. Parts of it have been restored but some of it needs attention. The square around the teatro was bursting with people as it was Sunday evening and after another warm day people were out and about.

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