A short 10 minute walk brought us to the Palermo's Botanical Gardens. First opened in 1795, it is part of Palermo University's Dept of Botanical Sciences. We were surprised, although now looking back I have no idea why because Italians always go overboard on architecture, to be greeted by this building, the gymnasium, upon our arrival.
Ceiling of atrium
In this room lectures were held. Students would stand where you see the heads and the professor would stand to the left on a podium.
The ceiling inside
Ceiling of a side room
Scupltures on the back side of the building.
The Herbarium, which houses an "extremely valuable collection of dried plants from around the world"
In an identical building to the herbarium was the old director's quarters which no house a little museum dedicated to all things palm tree. There were little palm baskets, beauty and dietary products made from palm as well as paintings of palm trees. I found this one interesting.
Even though it was winter the gardens were still beautiful.
Don't judge me.
Ruins of an old church:
A giant citrus fruit- as big as a human head! It was aptly named citrus gigantus; I shit you not.
Beauty aside, these botanical gardens are still in fervent use today. Some of the less beautiful areas were lined with specimen pot after pot of every subtropical species of plant one could imagine from citrus to shrubs to flowers. The gardens were great for HB since he loves looking at flowers, leaves and trees and had free reign to run everywhere, and run he did.
The botanical gardens are right across the street from the water so we headed over there next. Just look at this!
We didn't spend very much time at the water because it was lunch time but seeing this made me a little sad we got a place in the city rather than on the water.
It was Sunday so of course everything was closed. However, we did find a random little bakery that had two things for sale, one of them didn't look appetizing and the other was...
Hand-breaded hot dogs! Paired with some wine once we got home, we were both fairly satisfied with our Sicilian street food.
Thanks to all the exercise at the gardens, HB took an extra long nap. Our afternoon was cut short which ended up not being a terrible thing since we couldn't find the palace we were looking for. We walked and walked in circles, saw a few cool things and the weather was good.
At Chiesa di San Cataldo, a 12th century Arab-Norman church
Don't ask me WTF this is supposed to be but it was outside a restaurant. We declined to dine here. I swear I don't go looking for this stuff; it just finds me!
This was in Giardino Garibaldi, a giant ficus, considered the largest in Italy.
Chiesa di S. Maria della Catena, built 1520:
Church of St. Francis of Assisi, built 1260:
:
I don't recall which one this was, sorry.
After two hours of wandering around on what, at the time, felt like a fruitless afternoon we found the first place that was open for dinner. As per usual, we were starving! I managed to take pics of the eggplant bruschetta, salad and tiramisu but forgot the main course. Zack had swordfish pasta and I had lasange. Both were pretty tasty!
Best tiramisu of my LIFE.
And the liter of wine. Can't forget that! It may have helped the foot taste better. The chef came out to talk with us, I guess because he was bored. He was from Bangladesh! He all but said he hated it in Sicily. He was a fascinating guy, it almost seemed like he was trying to get us to take him with us haha. Maybe he was! Oh, maybe, he was :/
Do I even need to mention we were the only people in the restaurant at 6pm? This little sign made me giggle.
It is supposed to say, "He who eats makes crumbs." Yes, it was a touristy place near the famous opera house Teatro Massimo (picture taken on the way home)
but at this point I've come to terms with the fact that we will not be dining in the hip restaurants at the fashionably late hour of 8pm. That is just not our life, but still, life is pretty good for us right now.
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