It’s only six miles from our room in Palermo to our room in Monreale. A ridiculously short distance for our first travel day of the tour. Still, the ride was not without interest. It began with four miles biking southwest on Via Vittorio Emanuele, the primary boulevard that splits the historical heart of the city. Palermo, as we reported yesterday, is decidedly unfriendly on a bicycle - and that was experiencing the city on one of its very few ‘bike routes’. Vittorio Emanuele carries at least some bike traffic because it’s the main route out of town to the northwest, but it is in no way a bike route. A very busy four lane street at first, it soon narrows to a very busy two lane street - one with no shoulder at all as both sides of the road are lined with parked cars. So really, there’s just a narrow lane to share with the cars, with hazards on both sides - oncoming traffic on the left, car doors on the right. But it gets worse, because often the driving lane is partially blocked by a row of double-parked cars, leaving only a half lane for moving vehicles plus whatever can be stolen from the narrow oncoming lane. It’s interesting.
An interesting moment. On the right: a row of parked cars and a few others double parked in the moving lane. On the left: a row of parked cars, a car passing us in the oncoming lane, and a motorcycle passing the passing car.
It's reminiscent of what I saw in Pakistan nearly 40 years ago. The concept of a "lane" is a mere suggestion; the apparent protocol is to be the first to arrive at any given patch of pavement and flash your lights at oncoming traffic, expecting them to have the good sense to yield to you. Collisions were not an unheard-of phenomenon. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
So that was the first four miles. The last two were different, as we finally left Vittorio Emanuele for a side street that climbs up steeply for the next two miles before finally leveling out in small but very congested Monreale.
We didn’t stop for photos during the ride since concentrating on survival skills took priority; but fortunately we have video to help us remember so we aren’t tempted to bike in Palermo again. Really, three times is enough. We’re pushing our luck.
Video sound track: We Gotta Get Out of This Place, by the Animals
We arrived at our room at 12:30, happy to be alive, delighted to be able to check in early, and elated that there is secure bike parking on the ground floor so we don’t have to carry the bikes up a narrow two story staircase like we did the last time we stayed in this town.
With the entire afternoon free, we spent the next hour and a half loafing in the room before finally stepping out for a hike in the hills that start immediately on the edge of town. Pretty much an out and back - three miles up, three miles down. Within about four blocks we left town and enjoyed one stunning view after another for the next three hours.
Leaving Monreale. Within about four blocks we’re on the edge of town and into the hills.
Andrea BrownThere are lots of purple daisy-like things. You'll probably need to include the leaves for a positive ID. I'm going to take a stab and tentatively call this Anemone hortensis. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Crowning the next hill behind us is Castellaccio, an abandoned castle. There must be a knockout view from up there, but it was too far off for the time we had.
In the hills just to the west of Monreale is the Abbey of San Martino delle Scale, a Benedictine monastery. Putatively founded in the seventh century during the rule of Pope Gregory the Great, it was later destroyed by the Saracens and rebounded in the 1300’s.
On the way back we took a detour to walk past Chiesa della Croci, a small hillside church we had noticed on the way out. The detour took us to a point above the church from which we dropped down a long, ancient-feeling staircase to the church and then on into town. We couldn’t get into the church or its grounds, but the views were spectacular.
A zoomed in look at Chiesa della Croci, a small church overlooking Monreale. An ethereal tanker hovers in the bay offshore from Palermo.
Monreale is a small place, but thanks to the tourism associated with the cathedral there are several restaurants in town. Not much is open on Sunday nights though, so we were pleased that the restaurant next door to our hotel is open tonight, gets good reviews, and even takes online reservations. We made one for seven, but when we arrived all the staff were seated to their own supper and we were told that the restaurant didn’t actually open for another hour and a half.
So we went on a restaurant hunt, eventually finding a small osteria behind the cathedral. We enjoyed a quite nice, simple meal accompanied by conversation with the only other diners in the place, a couple from Virginia. They’re quite interesting and well traveled, largely as a result of her career working in refugee resettlement for the foreign service.
Keith AdamsKinda leaves me scratching my head as to why they would offer reservations for a time when they're not prepared to serve guests... Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Scott AndersonTo Keith AdamsOur reaction also. Later, we got an email from the booking website asking why we hadn’t shown up for our reservation. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Ride stats today: 6 miles, 1,000’; for the tour: 25 miles, 2,700’
Today's ride: 6 miles (10 km) Total: 25 miles (40 km)
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Suzanne GibsonIt looks like walking your bike in Palermo wasn't even a real option. I like the way Rachaels's video catches Scott's frustrated sigh when no one budges from his path. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
