Our arrival in Palermo was smooth after a 2 hr bus ride along the coast. We walked with our bags to the first stop: La Martorana. A friend of ours from the States has this family name from this area of Sicily and we promised to go and check out "his church" while we were there! It's a beautiful church with amazing mosaics and mixed styles of aesthetics from Byzantine to Islamic forms. By 1:00 we had arrived at the house of yet another CouchSurfing host who welcomed us with the legendary southern hospitality. Not only did he have an entire detached apartment for guests, but he introduced us to his parents who live in the main house. His mother quickly became our adopted mom, making us sit down to a traditional Sicilian lunch. We talked over the meal about their recommendations around the city and decided to meet back for dinner and an evening out.
Chris and I spent the afternoon touring the Zisa Castle (one of the oldest examples of Moorish style remains in the area, and very much full of Arabic style modeling), dodging quick rain showers, and stopping in a few more churches, including the Cathedral and San Giuseppe dei Teatini. I'd read that a popular drink in Sicily was the salz, so we went to a small family cafe' to try it out. It talked to the young barista and he wasn't sure what I was asking for, so the mom came over and figured out that it was just gas water with lemon and salt - but she told me that this wasn't a traditionally Sicilian drink. We laughed and decided to try it anyway, along with a couple new treats from the pastry case. The mom asked us where we were from and we made general conversation. When we went to pay, she barely charged us anything at all and told us to enjoy Sicily.
For dinner we met up with two other American travelers who were staying in the same apartment as us, plus our host and his fidanzata (fiance'). They drove us around the city and enjoyed telling us historical facts, as well as practicing some English phrases out with us. They took us to the restaurant, Antica Focacceria San Francesco, which is a fun, casual and basically "al-la-carte" place to get many tastes of typical local fare. A member of the Slow Food Movement (which we love to support), the worker and patrons were very lively and kind. At one point, as we were sitting "family style" the group next to us chimed in our conversation and we passed the food around for everyone to try.
We then noticed about six kitchen workers filing arm in arm out the door to go get more supplies from next door. They were also chanting/singing something as some of the customers cheered them on. We asked what was going on, and in a slightly hushed tone, our host explained that this restaurant is a member of an organization of establishments around Palermo that are refusing to pay the pizzo (protection money) to the mafia. He pointed out the sticker on the window announcing this fact ("Contro il Pizzo") and also the two heavily armed policemen outside the entrance which keep guard sempre (always). Also, the workers leave together for extra protection.
Unbelievable...
...yet interesting that there seems to be a revolution against the 'old ways'. I'd read recently of a large supermarket in Palermo that only sells "mafia-free" supplies, so that the customers can be sure that non of their money gets in the hands of criminals.
After dinner we made a couple stops - one at a cafe/bookstore (like an Italian version of Barnes&Noble), a very popular bar/pastry shop, and finally a walk through the university area to a neighborhood filled with bars, cafes, and alleys full of people hanging out and mingling. We met a group of about 10 other CouchSurfing hosts and guests before dodging the sudden rain and heading home.
The next morning, we quickly walked through a couple of markets, visited another two churches, and walked to the harbor before going to the bus station. On the way to the station, we were stopped by a guy about our age promoting a discount card program for a local bookstore. When we told him that we didn't live there - he got really close to us (as I mentioned yesterday :) ) and became so interested in where we were from, why we were traveling, etc. It's like he forgot that he was even trying to sell something, because he just wanted to converse!
It was amazing to meet this wonderful group of people - and the people of Sicily really made our trip. We enjoyed seeing the sites, but...
8 Cannoli, 4 slices of pizza, 2 gelati = €14
Bus tickets around the Sicilian coast = €38
Meeting all the AMAZING people = priceless
...Coming up next : Back to the Trapani area and lots about SICILIAN FOOD!
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