Viaggio in Sicilia / 11: 24 giugno – lunedì
As mentioned, we completed our RS-guided-tour of Cefalù in the morning then headed out just before noon toward Palermo. The goal was to visit Santa Rosalia’s sanctuary on route to the airport before returning the jeep to Sicily-by-Car and catching the bus to our Palermo Airbnb. The santuario bit stands out as one of the worst decisions of my career as a traveler planner, only because the main paved road up the steep climb was closed. The unpaved pot-holed pilgrimage trail that I tried to navigate seemed to grow increasingly perilous after each of the various hair pin turns. Fortunately I bailed out and was able to turn the car around –partly with help from a kind pilgrim– without damaging the car, August’s mental health and our marriage. We made it to the airport, delivered the car without a hitch and set out in a taxi-share to downtown Palermo. As I watched the driver negotiate the twists, turns and traffic I was reminded that the sense of resuscitation that results from ditching a rental car makes me what Lazarus must have felt arising from his grave! The driver deposited us short-order a block from our via del Teatro Biondi Airbnb and a couple of passcodes later we were happily settled into our old-world lodging in the heart of old Palermo. The apartment was in and of itself something of an experience, with its high ceilings, tile floors, wooden shutters that opened mezzo mezzo onto small balconies overlooking all the beautifully gritty and old that meets the eye. And then there was the exceedingly accommodating host, Luca alias “Bacavù,” with his interminable stream of heartfelt instructions and recommendations and his explosion of emojis, each one punctuated with a ❤️ … how sweet! We took the love-letter-host’s advice and pursued a cena romantica (one day I have to meet this dude in person!) on the rooftop “Terrazze del Sole.” Although the “terrazze” and “sole” conspired to offer a truly luscious setting with even more scrumptious panoramas over Palermo’s historic district, from above, our discerning palates were looking ahead for culinary experiences that involved more sauce and less show.
By contrast, I thought of our afternoon snack down via Vittorio Emmanuele toward the port, near the Vucciria market. The foccaccia at the Foccacceria dei Mercanti, an example of the street food Palermo is noted for, rose to the occasion. We ate it as we began to get our bearings in what struck us at first blush as a strikingly intense and challenging urban environment after all the natura beauty and ancient splendor of the so many other Sicilies we had visited.
Photo album available on Flickr at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBBMTH
