Did I mention how beautiful Sicily is?
Breakfast was interesting because we were forced to adapt to two Italian mainstays: Shelf milk and the Moka Pot. While out shopping the night before, Zack was forced to go to a dry goods store to pick up what we call "shelf milk" due to a lack of other options. In most of Europe they don't drink typical American refrigerated milk, they drink shelf stable, UHT (ultra high pasteurized) milk. It comes in either plastic or carboard containers and just sits on the shelf for up to six months. Because it is pasteurized at 240 degress instead of the typical 140, the bacteria that cause spoilage are killed off and thus it lasts longer. The thought of it has always freaked me out and at one point I was close to tears knowing HB was expecting milk from a cup but thankfully he didn't seem to mind it and didn't get sick either. Upon returning home and doing some research I learned that most organic milk sold in the states is UHT also; that's why it lasts so long. I still don't know if I can do real shelf milk, though. I'm going to have to do some more research I think.
We also had to use the shelf milk for our coffee. In Italy they do not traditionally use a plug-in coffee pot, they use an Italian Moka Pot.
How it works is you put 3-4 ounces water in the bottom, finely ground coffee in the middle part, and put it on the stove. The heat forces the water up through the coffee and into the top part. What you get out is pretty close to an espresso shot. If you're hardcore you drink it as is or if you're like me you have to heat milk on the stove to make it into a coffee. Zack added part water and part milk (because he's only part hardcore) but I liked the cappuccino taste (with plenty of sugar, of course) and OMG was it delicious! Like strong coffee always does, it made my heart race and I felt like I was pinging off the walls but my, was it tasty!
Another exciting part about breakfast was the eggs. HB and I eat eggs every morning. In the states we would eat organic or farm fresh. The eggs we bought at the market were the closest we've ever seen to perfect. They even sat in the bowl perfectly. I wasn't paying attention as I cracked them, then looked down and saw this. No runniness here!
After breakfast we made our way out with HB in the baby ruck sack
Our first outing of the day was to the Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna (Palermo's Modern Art Museum). As soon as we walked in we saw this bronze by Mario Rutelli called The Wrathful:
I was especially excited to see it, not only because it was of 12 foot tall hot, naked dudes wrestling but because when I went to Nove we saw a reproduction of this in ceramic. It made our little group of girls blush, giggle and a little stumped at the seeming homoerotic nature of the piece. The dude on the ground is looking directly at the other guy's bum. All I can find about the piece is that it has something to do with Dante's Inferno.
That was the only picture I got to take because as soon as I took it I was almost tackled by two security guards. As per standard procedure we were the first, and at that time, the only, people in the museum. HB was full and no where near nap time so he should have been content but for whatever reason he decided to go full honey badger two minutes after this picture was taken. He was screaming, trying to touch all of the artwork and crying. A lot. I think it was because there weren't any other people or sounds to distract him. Either that or he just doesn't want me to enjoy myself.
It was hard to concentrate with all the shenanigans but thankfully Zack took charge and let me look around best I could. I saw some amazing works by Francesco Lojacono, Michele Catti, Antonio Leto, Leo Castro, Corrado Cagli, and Pippo Rizzo. And I had the wherewithal to at least write down some names and at the end, the titles of a few works. I wasn't expecting to be so taken with Sicilian Modern Art as I was. I do wish I would have taken more illegal photos because none of the works I wrote down can be found online.
For lunch we went to a little Trattoria. It was nice. Of course we were the only people there at 11:45 but honey badgers have to eat!
I got shrimp and mushroom linguine
And Zack got veggie risotto. Both were delicious!
Following HB's afternoon nap we decided to take the stroller to check out the Norman Palace. That walk was interesting. Our morning walk to the museum was towards the water, through a modern part of town where many buildings had been beautifully restored. The walk to the palace was inland through some neighborhoods that were not.
Sicily's government is interesting. Technically Sicily is part of Italy but they govern sovereignly and there is a strong mob presence. From what we saw of historic Palermo there are two classes, poor and uber rich. Trip Adviser and word on the street say Palermo is a dangerous city, possibly for these reasons, but besides the graffiti and run down areas, we found it to be quite safe. On our first day out, however, traipsing through narrow alleyways with six stories of laundry hanging from every balcony, poorly done graffiti with symbols for both communism and anarchy, and shells of buildings that were bombed out IN WORLD WAR II, we were a tad uncomfortable.
At one point we hit a dead end and I was forced to try and discreetly pull out my phone and figure out where we were. Some nice old man came up to us and said, "Palazzo? Palazzo." and pointed us down the road to the palace. Guess I wasn't as discreet as I thought.
The rude man in ticket booth out front told us we couldn't bring the stroller inside and to come back without it or carry HB around. Since neither of us wanted to try and contain him we made the command decision to come back on Monday. It would prove to be the wrong choice but I'll get to that in another blog.
Well, I suppose we did pay for that wrong choice immediately. After walking around Piazza Indepenza, which was pretty trashy and disgusting, this church notwithstanding, we got lost. Again.
We were trying to find the road Corso Vittorio Emanuele to head back towards our street and avoid the ghetto. Instead we ended up walking down Corso Calatafimi, which is the same road, just goes in the other direction. A good while later we came across the Cuba Castle complex and church. At the time we had no idea what it was and didn't know you could go inside to see the archaeological site (Facepalm/ head desk). This is the one photo we took of the church.
The Castello Cuba is said to be the last of the Norman architecture in the city and dates to the 1100s. Now would probably be a good time to talk about the history of Sicily/ Palermo since talking about Norman palaces probably doesn't make much sense right now.
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean. The earliest evidence of human habitation dates back to 8000 BCE. It was settled largely by Greeks around 750 BCE, then the Romans, and passed hands between the Germanic Vandal Tribe, Normans, Arabs, and Byzantines during the middle ages, followed by the Spanish before becoming a part of Italy. The earliest Greek settlement in Palermo dates to around the 700s BCE as evidenced by some cave drawings nearby. Apparently to the ancient people, this was a key piece of real estate and couldn't be passed up. While many of the Roman, Arab and Jewish (yes, there were Jews in Palermo but they never ruled) buildings were destroyed (by the Normans), much of the Norman architecture has survived. Today Palermo's buildings display the Arab, Norman, Baroque, and Gothic styles. It's amazing and overwhelming to see so much splendor in overcrowded and poorly managed areas, most tagged with graffiti of some sort. The underlying sentiment appears to be "we really don't care" but that could just be me.
Eager to get back to familiar territory we hightailed it back in the right direction. We passed by Palermo Cathedral, which was under a but of construction and the Palazzo Arcivescovile, the Archbishop's Palace (on the left). Yep, he gets a palace too. Really today it is a seminary and seat of the archdiocese. We didn't stop. Intentionally, this time.
If you're ever in the mood for some Catholic swag, vestries, or statues of baby Jesus (the undisputed favorite Jesus of NASCAR fans everywhere), this would be the shopping destination of your dreams.
Eventually the road interseted with Via Maqueda and we came up close and personal with Quattro Canti, the Four Corners, erected in the 1600's. Here are two of the four, you get the picture.
Just down Via Maqueda we found Palazzo Pretorio, and Fontana Pretoria, also know as the Fountain of Shame. I can't guess why.
Erected in 1554, it was originally intended for a private property, it was put here to showcase the plumbing. Or something like that.
What's that? The Virgin Mary?
Yep, sure is. I guess she's keeping an eye on things? Such the scandal!
.jpg)
For dinner we tried going to a pizzeria recommended by Massimo, one he said opened at 7. It did not open until 7:30 and since HB, and us, were exhausted and famished, we found this place and got a pizza to go. PIZZ UP! Burgers DOWN! Or at least that's how I say it in my head.
All afternoon HB was great but by 7 he reverted to full honey badger mode. I can't say I blame him; he's usually getting a bath at 7pm. We also picked up a bottle of Sicilian wine using the Nero D'Avalo grape.
It wasn't anything too fancy but my, was it tasty! If you ever have the opportunity to try one of these wines, take advantage! It was similar to Cabernet, very full of flavor. Yum!
No comments:
Post a Comment