In Palermo, Day 1 - Sicilian Circuit - CycleBlaze

March 17, 2023

In Palermo, Day 1

Today we had no plans other than wandering around and absorbing the flavour of the city, with naps in our room if and as needed. 

We headed out after breakfast to see the Mercato di Ballerò, one of Palermo’s famous street markets and the closest one to where we are staying. There were fabulous displays of produce from land and sea, vendors crying their wares, and lots of people. We were early so most of the people visiting the market were local shoppers buying groceries; I didn’t see anyone else just taking pictures. 

Cauliflower! None of it was white or wrapped in plastic, the only way I’ve seen it at home.
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Hmm… What shall I cook today?
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Artichokes and fennel and peas and more
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Mussels and clams and oysters
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Swordfish, obviously!
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Zucchini
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Deep fried prawns on sticks? This display was across from where we ate lunch 4 hours later and didn’t appear to have changed. When were they fried or are these just a non-edible display?
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How very Sicilian! Chunks of octopus served in a paper cone to eat with a stick. This display was also unchanged 4 hours later, as most of the market vendors were packing up.
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The beautiful dome of the Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore
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Palermo. Old and new, beauty and not-so-nice
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Keith AdamsWhen we visited Tuscany our tour organizer pointed out that "graffiti" is an Italian word. The reason seems obvious...
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1 year ago


After a stop by our room to swap my puffy jacket for my light fleece, we carried on down towards the port. Al wanted to get some CO2 cartridges so we looked on Google Maps for a bike store. Most of the route to get there was along the water but the last part was on a fairly busy street with no real provision for pedestrians. We never saw the bike store so turned toward our accommodation. Another search yielded another bike shop and it turned out to be on the informal “Via Bicicletta” that Scott Anderson mentioned finding in one of his journals. It took several tries but Al came away happy with 4  “bombolette CO2”.

Bell tower as seen from Piazza Pretoria
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On Piazza Pretoria. Why the costumes, I’ve no idea!
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Statue, Fontana Pretoria
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Statue, Fontana Pretoria
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Detail of the fence around Fontana Pretoria
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Palermo
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Palermo
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“Ficus macrophylla, subspecies columnaris” or so said the sign. Planted in honour of the unification of Italy, or so I interpreted the rest of the sign.
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Mural, Palermo
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On the unpleasant street where we failed to find the bike shop Google Maps said was there, we saw several horses trotting quickly, pulling little racing carts. Nowhere else to go?
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Via Bicicletta, aka Via Divisi, just off Via Roma
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Scott AndersonI should bike over there and see if that cat is still chained up.
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Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonI didn’t see a cat.
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Chiesa di San Cataldo. We need to come back and look inside.
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Margie AndersonI love this photo in so many ways. The red details, from the building top to Al eyeing that red bike. Great photo! M.
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Next was lunch and for this we returned to the Mercato di Ballerò for “street food”.

The term seems to mean little dishes served on disposable plates with canned or bottled beverages. Al had mixed fried fish and a beer and I had grilled vegetables and a chinotto. The food was okay and the atmosphere chaotic. We are in Sicily!

After a nap we walked over to a church very close to our B&B but it closed at 4:30 and we were an hour later. Tomorrow, perhaps. We did see some of the Cathedral and walked around some more.  

Let’s go take a closer look at the cathedral. It’s just over there.
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Inside the cathedral. The exterior is more interesting, I think.
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Exterior of Palermo Cathedral
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Exterior of Palermo Cathedral
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This automat was much more than a laundromat
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Apéro Time, Palermo
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Jacquie GaudetTo Patrick O'HaraThanks! This street intrigued us; coincidentally, the pizzeria here is where we ended up going for our late lunch the next day.
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Part of the giant wagon used in last year’s Santa Rosalia procession
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Rachael AndersonGreat photos! You definitely right about it being chaotic! I’m looking forward to going to some quieter places.
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1 year ago