Saturday morning after breakfast, we met our guide and driver in the lobby and took the car to Monreale which is just outside Palermo. Monreale has this amazing cathedral that has so many gold leaf mosaics. It was gorgeous. Our guide Maria took us through the various building additions and explained the symbolism of the different mosaics or design motifs. After the cathedral, we went into the cloisters and she pointed out more symbolism and designs in the columns around the courtyard. Everything was so well preserved. It was amazing to see. We stopped for a cookie that’s typical for Monreale and took in the view of Palermo from the top of the hill.
After Monreale, we had a walking tour of Palermo. You could see the mix of Norman, Arab and Spanish architecture. We went into the cathedral which was great but not as impressive as Monreale. We walked through a street that was lined with book sellers which was really cool. Then when we stopped at a very old cafe for a street food tasting. We had arancini, chickpea fritters, croquettes and tried spleen sandwiches. It was a bit of an early lunch and we were so full. We got to walk through the Capo market which was chaotic but interesting to see different produce. We got a ride back towards our hotel and stopped for a small cannolo.
After regrouping at the hotel we went out to shop and walk around the city. When we took a break at a cafe for a drink and ran into Natasha, our housemate from the cooking school. I think we got almost everything we set out for.
We finished shopping and headed to dinner at Trattoria Carpaccio. It was so good but we couldn’t finish our fish courses. We split a cannolo for good measure.
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