Palermo, December 28, 2006: Archaeology and Churches. And a cannolo.

Up late again, due to continuing yuckiness on the part of Mr. Pants’ poor stomach.

On our way out today I picked up another arancino, the big balls of fried rice and meat yumminess that are becoming addictive. For 1.30 euros, it was a more than satisfying lunch.

We started out with a walk through Palermo’s Cattedrale, a building that impresses on the outside with its Arabic/Norman looks, but fails to hold the high level of awesome due to its pretty drab interior.

They did have a great display of nativity scenes from around the world, and we enjoyed a Spanish one complete with bullfighters

and one from Alberobello with trulli houses. (It’s a town in Puglia that’s in an area with distinctive cone-shaped houses – we’re planning to visit it in January.)

Behind the cattedrale we found a really interesting little shop specializing in the centuries-old art of painting Sicilan carriages. Apparently, they’ve moved on to Ape trucks as well. The vehicles are usually painted with scenes out of the life of Roland (Orlando), one of the knights of Charlemagne, loved by Sicilians for his romantic death at the hands of the Saracens.

We then moved on to a walk through the Mercato in the Capo district.

Foodwise, it was just as wonderful as the Mercato Ballaró yesterday, but it excelled in the area of clothes and crap. Fake baby dolls planted to look like chrysanthemums jostled up against 3 euro pairs of jeans. Come to think of it, I should have tried some on.

Since it was time, once again, to sample an overwhelming array of Sicilian sweets, we headed over to the Antico Caffe Spinnato, where Husbear got to have a real honest-to-goodness ice cream sandwich. Pistachio ice cream on a brioche, to be more exact – I think he fell in love. He says he wants to mail their pistachio ice cream back to Florence, where he can run it through the school’s gelato machine. Perhaps.

On the other hand, I got to have the tastiest marzipan I’ve ever tried – much lighter and softer than any I’ve had before – and another delicious cannolo, this one with the inside of the shell coated in chocolate.

Yipes. I washed it down with a nice espresso – I needed something a little bitter to chase all that sweet.

They had Nativity cakes on display!

Then, we walked over to the Archaeological Museum, in a beautiful building that used to be a convent. We saw some amazing Greek artifacts, mostly from the area around Siracusa (Syracuse), where we’ll be next week, as well as some interesting Etruscan finds and some great Roman bronzes.

And, of course, a Roman flying penis with a penis and a penis for a tail. What?

Finished with the archaeological museum, we went back to visit an ancient church that’s had no roof for hundreds of years. On the way, we wandered into a small church that happened to still be open, called La Magione. It dates back to 1150 and has a beautiful entrance, lined with palm trees. The best thing they had was an intricate presepe (another nativity scene) which included not only the usual suspects, but also Pope John Paul II hanging out by a stream as well as Mother Teresa wandering in a desert built specially for her off to the side. I love seeing these nativity scenes everywhere!

Then, on to the church-without-a-roof, Lo Spasimo, which is now used as a space for concerts. It looks like it would be a beautiful place to get married, provided the weather was good. Nothing like getting rained on inside.

We had dinner tonight at Il Garage, the Tunisian place run by the husband of the woman we’re renting this little apartment from. I’ve never had the experience of walking into a place and being asked “Wine or beer? Because you’re having fish.” We got a little more than fish, though – starting with a nice bean stew before moving on to the main event. The pictures are all pretty horrible, though – can I ask you, who paints their fluorescent bulbs green?

We did have a tasty whole orata, or sea bream. Deliciously pan-fried. With a side salad of tomato and fennel. And cheap cheap cheap! Water, wine, fish, salad, soup… 12.50 euroes each. Now that’s a price we can get behind.

Tomorrow we’re going to have to try to get up early… we have a car to pick up out at the airport at 11 in the morning, and then off to the western side of the island. Marsala, here we come!