This weekend I planned an impromptu solo trip to Sicily. Originally, when I got to Italy, I didn't really have an interest in seeing the island. But after taking my history of the Sicilian mafia class and spending some time hearing about it, I really wanted to go. But, nobody else did, so I decided to be miss independent and go on my own. The plane and hotel were pretty cheap (yes, I stayed in a hotel, not a hostel- I didn't want to stay in a hostel dorm room by myself and the private rooms were just as much as a hotel room (which still wasn't much) so I just did the hotel.)
Of course, when I get to the airport, I realize that I left my passport at the apartment and I don't have time to go back and get it. I'm hoping that because I'm flying within the country, they'll let it pass. But, of course, because I'm anxious literally all the time, it became a big Thing and I spent my time in the airport over thinking everything.
I get up to the front of the line and after a minute of deliberation, they let me fly with my driver's license as ID. Whew. (Hopefully they also let me fly back)
But I get to Sicily, take a bus from the airport, find my hotel alright. The hotel is a little strange, reception is on the fifth floor, and then my room is on the fourth. Also, instead of a keycard, I got a set of actual keys attached to this strange metal disk that is so heavy I could probably actually hit someone with it. The hotel isn't too glamorous, but that's fine, all I need is a place to sleep.
So after I get to the hotel, I decide to go out and find the catacombs of the capuchins, which I really wanted to see here, and also something to eat, because my plane got in around two and I was starving. I figure I'll find something on the walk down.
So I pull up the Palermo catacombs on my locations and away I go!
To get to the catacombs, I had to go through a few of the poorer neighborhoods- I felt a little out of place in my old navy collared t-shirt and bright pink phone, haha. But the catacombs of the capuchins were sooo worth it.
Honestly, I love creepy stuff, and I heard about these catacombs in some of the creepy blogs I read. Here's the deal about the catacombs of the capuchins: There were these monks, and one died, and the rest still wanted to pray with him. So they had his body preserved in order to still pray with him. They started doing this for more and more monks, and eventually it got super trendy to have your dead loved ones preserved. It became a symbol of being high society. If you were someone, you got your dead loved ones preserved.
They started in 1599 stopped doing this in the 1920s. It's been awhile since then, obviously, but a lot of the corpses in there are still in various levels of preservations. They're lined up on walls, lying in glass coffins, sitting on shelves. A lot have skin, some have hair, some even still have eyes. One of the most famous mummies is Rosalia Lombardo, a two-year-old girl who was one of the last to be admitted here, and who was preserved with a remarkable technique that was only rediscovered recently. To this day, she still looks as if she could simply be sleeping.
I'm not going to include any photos in here because quite frankly, I don't think everyone has the stomach for it. These are corpses in various states of preservation- it's not something everyone can handle. But if you've got interest in the bizarre and historic and macabre- it is well worth a visit.
So I leave the catacombs and decide to get something to eat. Problem: it turns out that this is national worker's day in Italy and freaking everything is closed.
It's nearly five. I haven't eaten since breakfast. I can't even find a gelato shop open. Finally I stumble across this really weird, hole-in-the-wall convenience store. Literally, hole in the wall. There was no door. But I was desperate, so I got some (pre-packaged) bread and crackers and wine (all for oddly cheap) and went back to my hotel. I had some work to do so I nibbled on my fancy Italian dinner of packaged rolls and planned out my day tomorrow.
Saturday
Today, I had one goal: See the Teatro Massimo, and just explore Sicily!
The Teatro Massimo is probably the most famous theater in all of Sicily. In addition to having a rich history of opera and art, there were scenes from The Godfather 2 filmed here! Most notably, the scene where someone gets shot in the theater- yep, that's this theater. Those of you who have been following my blog know how much I've fallen in love with The Godfather in my Italian film classes, so this was a must-see.
The theater was in this central hub of downtown Sicily, near all these shops and busy streets, so I spent the rest of the day just wandering! There was so much to see. Palermo knows that people come here because of its mafia history (and the mafia is still very active here, but nobody mentions that there) so I ended up getting some mafia souvenirs, some of my favorites from Italy. I'll forever treasure my "u mafiusu" bobblehead.
It was so incredibly hot that day- I discovered that Sicily isn't as into gelato as Rome is, but what they do have (and do very well) is granitas! The blend of frozen ice and fruit juice I explained in my Sorrento post. Well, Palermo is lemon country, and man, do they do good granitas! It was so hot, I must have had at least three.
This one was strawberry, lemon, and mint- the locals liked it! I couldn't get over the strawberry and mint combo.
I also came across this "American restaurant". It had "American meals" like chicken nuggets and salads named after the Empire State Building. It was so funny to see us from that point of view! I was so taken by it that I got dinner there, just to see what it was like. (It was American dishes, but also not? I was so entertained by the whole thing.)
Sunday
Not much to tell about today. The plane tickets were cheaper if I left earlier in the morning, so I checked out early and headed to the airport. I used the same bus system that I did to get here (again, proud of myself for figuring this out when I don't even speak the language) and flew back.
The mainland Italy and the island of Sicily are truly different lands, even if they are the same country. People here will tell you that but you don't really understand it until you visit both. When I got back to Italy, I just thought "it's nice to be home". Back to the mainland- I did miss the gelato!
