Now, the last leg of overnight stops on Sicily…3 nights in Palermo, starting September 30, staying at Hotel  Trinacria, bearing the name of the 3-legged woman that symbolizes Italy, as previously noted in this report…a woman’s face with a pair of wings for ears and snakes as hair, also known as the Triskelion, also a symbol, as noted before, of the three promontories of Sicily. This drive would be a total of 2 hours, on top of a stopover at Segesta, wandering through the ruins there, e.g., the Temple of Segesta. After that stop, the balance of driving was uneventful until entering Palermo, the capital of Sicily, with a population of 850,000 and bustling traffic at 2 PM, still we negotiated pretty well, with Maggie’s tracking directions and relating them to me. We arrived at Hotel Trinacria in the early afternoon, meeting “Olga”, a young woman whose name came across as an embarrassment to her since it does not match her beauty and helpfulness. The manager, Sylvia, regaled us with the history of the Trinacria’s recent restoration, as the current lobby area did not even have a roof. We had parked in a questionable spot before checking in, and learned the staff would open a huge door and we would drive into the hotel to park…much better than our experience in Trapani! We asked for a map of Palmero and got some advice from Olga, which we took and walked toward Teatro Massimo, which would lead us to Piazza Verdi and the Via Vittorio Emanuele, a pedestrian street with masses of folks walking every-which-way! We finally sat down at an outdoor café for some beverages and a snack, then dinner at Osteria Sciapo, where the owner slapped berets like the one he was wearing, on our heads, making us feel pretty special. Following that refreshing visit and meal, we trekked back to our hotel and a good night’s sleep.

 

Waking up in Palermo for our first full day, we took the stairs up to the hotel roof top, dining in the fresh air, adding to our plates as much fruit, cheese, pastries, cereals, etc. as we wished. We then decided to return to the Teatro Massimo location from the night before, to take the tour of the interior, which was a small price…12 Euros each. The elegance and history of this monument were well worth it, sitting up in one of the balconies listening to the guides talk about the start of its building in 1864, opening in 1901,  this 83,000 square foot facility being the biggest opera house in Italy. Interestingly enough, we learned that it was closed for renovations in 1974, with the Mafia-tied-Company extending the “reconstruction” over a period of 23 years whilst lining their pockets! Following our tour, we walked eastward on Via Cavour, toward the port, admiring the vessels nestled in the marina. Wandering through alleys from there, stopping for coffee, we came across a new tool for us, paying via a Cashmatic, self-pay machine. For dinner, we walked to a nearby venue recommended by our staff, joining in conversation with a couple from southwest Washington State of all places! We were ready to catch some z’s at our abode after this full day, looking forward to the tour tomorrow.

 

The following day, having signed up for a 2-hour tour, “Discovering the Anti-Mafia Rebellion”, sponsored by No Mafia, a recently formed anti-mafia grass roots movement, Addiopizzo. Their purpose is to support businesses and consumers that do not want to pay Mafia protection money. This tour educated us on the history of attempts to “take down” the Mafia. There were fifteen of us in our group. We were shown the symbol of what to look for in the windows of shops not paying the Mafia fees. After our tour, Maggie and I took off to find the neighborhood where the two key judges/prosecuting magistrates, Giovanni Falcone & Paolo Borsellino, grew up. They, among many others, were brutally assassinated by the Mafia. Much of what we learned is documented in a book by Claudine Cassar, “The Battle For Sicily’s Soul”. We walked quite a distance on Via Castro Filippo, to Piazza Maggiore, which was their childhood stomping grounds. Other kids they grew up with became some of the feared Mafiosi that they, as judges, had sentenced to prison. There were references in the area to this history and we moved on to returning to our hotel area, grabbing shots of espresso along the way and ended our day dining at another hotel recommendation, Locale, sitting next to a window rattling from the cars whizzing by. This exhausting day positioned us for a good sleep, needed for our drive the next day back to Catania, via Enna, to return our vehicle and take our flight on Ryan Air to Malta, where we would reside for 3 nights.

 

Enna, a town of 27,000, at an altitude of 3,000 feet, was a 140 KM drive, where we stopped for a couple of hours, meandering through the outdoor market. From the market, we espied a church on the hilltop, climbing up for a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. Since we had a 1:00 PM flight on Ryan Air to Malta we moved on and drove the 85 KM to Vincenzo Bellini Catania Airport, turning in our vehicle with very little gas in the tank, paying a pretty price for that dereliction of duty and eventually boarded our hourlong flight.