So, we arrived in Sicily late in the evening of Wednesday, July 8th. We spent one night in Catania (on the east coast of the island), and then the next morning, picked up our rental cars and drove to Palermo (kind of the northwest part of the island). I was so happy that Alex was driving Karyn and I around - this driving was scarier than some places I've been in Asia. Even if I knew how to drive a manual (I don't), I'm pretty sure I would never even try to drive in Italy! In some places, there were no traffic lights. You just GO when you can, and you must have confidence. If I were driving, I think we would STILL be stuck at a left turn. ;)
Palermo was a pretty cool town. We spent three days in the area. The first day, we got in pretty lunch and spent most of the hours that things were open (everything closes between 12 and 3) having a two hour lunch. We decided after that day that we better do things differently afterwards or we'd never see anything! After lunch, the girls went back to the hotel to swim, and Karyn, Alex, Fabio, Sam, and I explored the city. The sites were marginal compared to other places I've been in Italy, but the city still had a charm all its own.
Chiesa San Cataldo
After seeing a few beautiful churches (filled with mosaics, which I love!), Karyn and I walked back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped through the beautiful Botanical Garden. It had some amazing trees that I have never seen before! They were called Banyan trees, and they grow sideways AND up and down... they kind of send shoots out of their branches. It's really cool! :)
Banyan tree with lots of shoots coming out
Karyn in the beautiful garden
The next morning, we got up on the early side and drove to the small town of Monreale. There isn't much there besides an absolutely amazing church full of beautiful mosaics. It was cool to see all the familiar Bible stories laid out in mosaic-form. There were over 2000 mosaics inside!
The mosaic over the alter
Mosaics along the aisle
Karyn & Fabio in the cloisers at Monreale
I love trying to take pictures "through" something... this is the cloister from a different angle
After Monreale, we were ready to quit the sight-seeing for the day and hit the beach! We stopped by this quaint little beach... really a local place. It wasn't a sand beach, but I was still happy to soak up the sun, read my book, and take a dip in the clear water. Ahhh....
Our beach haven...
Our last day in Palermo, Alex, Karyn & I went to the Capuchini Catacombs for a sight unlike anything else I've ever seen! The catacombs house hundreds of bodies from the 1500's onwards. Some of the bodies were presevered using something special which cause the bodies to still look almost lifelike. It was kind of cool, but kind of creepy at the same time. After about 30 minutes, we were ready to get out of there! When we returned back to our car, we found this:
MISSING HUBCAPS! Only in a town run by the Mafia... yikes!
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