At the end of April, George and I flew to Sicily to celebrate his birthday and visit his family. They live in Palermo, which was an easy flight from London. We landed on a Wednesday and went for dinner the first night at La Corte dei Mangioni Savoca Osteria 1999. They had huge sharing boards with tons of meats, cheeses, and seafood. The food was absolutely delicious and I was so excited to be spending the five days in Sicily with such amazing food & great company!
thursday
On Thursday, we walked around the city, first going to the Church of San Cataldo, which was this beautiful little church that has three red domes on the roof of Arabic inspiration. We walked through the square containing the Praetorian Fountain, which has beautifully ornate sculptures surrounding it, and then went to tour the Church of St. Mary of the Admiral. This church is one of the most spectacular churches I have ever seen and I loved the ceiling especially. We were able to climb to the top and take in the views of downtown Palermo with the mountains surrounding the area. It was gorgeous and I highly recommend seeing this church if you are in the city. After walking around and working up an appetite, we stopped at a pizza shop called Biga Genio E Farina. The pizza was absolutely to die for! The whole avenue was filled with little restaurants and cafes and I’m sure if we stopped at any of them, the food would have been fantastic. We visited our last sight of the day, which was the Palermo Cathedral – my goodness the Italians know how to decorate a cathedral! It was stunning and we went to the catacombs as well to see the ornate tombs. We had dinner together at home, where George’s mom made traditional Romanian cabbage rolls and Russian salad. We had a wonderful evening!
friday
We had a lovely slow morning and then we went to Teatro Massimo Palermo, the opera house / performing arts theater, for a tour. Again, another breathtaking building in this city and next time we visit, I definitely want to go to a show there. After our tour, we headed down to the Palermo port to see the boats and have lunch at one of the restaurants on the water. We got some gelato and then headed back home for a barbecue! George’s family speak Italian, Romanian, and some English so it was fun and very clear that my Duolingo for Romanian isn’t going to cut it! I have a tutor as well, but definitely need more practice 🙂
saturday
The weather was beautiful Saturday, so George’s cousin drove us to Mondello Beach, where we walked along the beach & boardwalk to enjoy the afternoon. We stopped at one of the many seaside restaurants for a drink before taking the car up to Monte Pellegrino. I thought we were going to have to hike, but turns out you can drive all the way to the top! The mountain overlooks Palermo, with sweeping views of the city and sea. After getting back and taking some rest, we went out for dinner and ended up out until midnight because the service was very slow. The food was delicious though!
sunday
For our last day, we went to the Botanical Gardens. As we all know, I love flowers so this was right up my alley! We took it easy, had some lunch near the gardens, packed up our stuff, and headed back to London. George had to get a few final Mortadella sandwiches in the airport before departure and we picked up a bottle of olive oil in duty free. Can’t wait to go back!
aventuras de alyssa 