Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Our journey to Palermo started in Salerno. We caught a train to Naples (Napoli) in the morning, wandered round Naples (Napoli) and the cruise liner terminal for a few hours, before heading to the Calata di Porto Massa ferry terminal. The ferry terminal was a very minimal affair. There was only one small cafe with seating for about a dozen people. The only other business in the terminal building was a pharmacy. It was standing room only for most of the 200+ people wanting for their ferry. To add insult to injury our ferry left from about 200 metres from the terminal building and we were told we could board at 6pm, but when we got there, we were told it would be 6.30 or later. This meant waiting in the open air or slogging back to the terminal building with our bags.
We were both exhausted and feeling unwell, all day all we'd wanted to do was get on board the ferry, eat, and go straight to bed. We were finally allowed to board the the ferry at 7pm.
In retrospect we should have stayed at the cruise liner terminal because it was also a shopping centre with a few places to sit and relax, and there was a free shuttle bus between it and Calata di Porto Massa.
Once on our ferry, things initially looked good. We were the first two passengers to board, we went straight to the reception desk to check-in where we were given keys to our cabin. A 4 birth cabin for the two of us which was a good size. As we hadn't eaten much all day we dumped our bags in our cabin and went in search of dinner. Finding both the self-service restaurant and the A La Carte restaurant closed we headed to the bar to kill some time. After a small can of beer, served with a plastic cup, we checked the restaurants again, the self-service was open, but the A La Carte restaurant was closed.
From then on things went down hill fast. The food in the self-service restaurant was disgusting. In hindsight going to bed hungry would have been a better decision.
For dinner we had some unidentifiable pieces of meat, boiled carrots, boiled cauliflower, and boiled green beans. At least I'm sure they were green long before they'd been overcooked and lost all of their colour. The vegetables were obviously frozen not fresh, and actually a miracle of science, as the overcooking had managed to leave them both soft and limp, and hard and crunchy.
So, we'd had to wait for over an hour after we'd boarded the ferry for the 'restaurant' to open, and we ended up with stone cold 'food', which cost just under €40. €40! A scandal.
If we ever needed to sail with Tirrenia Ferries again, we would definitely make sure to take our own food on board. A further insult to the service, was the fact that when we returned to our cabin, we found that the toilet did not work, and we had to get someone to come and fix it.
Finally, much later than our poor bodies needed, we could go to bed. The cabin was freezing, but we were so knackered we managed to get some sleep.
On a positive note, the ferry did arrive in Palermo on time, where we were very pleased to disembark and enjoy the early morning sun as we ambled to our hotel.

Photos of Palermo, Sicily
 

Stand along blog posts for Palermo, Sicily
Palermo Cathedral, Palermo,Sicily, Italy
Instagram Palermo, Italy

Staying in Palermo, Sicily

Hotel Orientale ~ http://www.albergoorientale.191.it

We stayed at the Hotel Orientale for 5 nights. It is an interesting hotel housed in part of an old palazzo. You enter the hotel through a nondescript wooden dor on Via Maquedes, into a large courtyard. The courtyard was littered with cars in various states of disrepair. The you walk up the once grand staircase to the hotel reception.
Our room was medium sized, with a small desk and chair, and a wardrobe. The windows did not fit very well, so we could hear the market outside at street level, but at night the street was deserted, so it was very quiet.

Plus points:
Bedroom and bathroom very clean.
Comfortable bed.
Working air-conditioning.
Endless hot water.
Location. Close to the train station, and in a vibrant area.
Negative Points:
No WiFi in the room.
No Fridge.
No T.V.
Breakfast. The self-service buffet, consisted of cheap processed packet food. There were croissants, sponge cakes, chocolate cake, and white bread for toasting. Coffee was available from a vending style machine, it was bad. Jugs of a cordial type drink were also available, but they were so sweet we couldn't drink them.

WiFi was available in the reception of the hotel. We sat there a couple of times but as the reception also doubled as the TV lounge of the receptionist it wasn't comfortable to stay for long, especially when she'd start plumping the cushions despite the fact that we were lounging on them.
Having said all that, we really enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Orientale in Palermo, Sicily.

Eating in Palermo, Sicily

Osteria Divino Rosso ~
Our first meal in Palermo was in a small restaurant on Via Alloro. We both had the same. Lentil soup to start, which must have been the largest serving of soup we've ever had in a restaurant, and meatballs in a tomato salsa, served with sautéed potatoes for main. We washed the food down with 1/2 litre of house wine. A decent introduction to eating in Sicily.

Place in the market ~
It had no name that we could see, and was located in one of the narrow streets south of Via Roma. I had Spaghetti Ricci, which was some kind of fish sauce, Laura had papperdelle with mushrooms. Good wholesome food, but I think we may have been overcharged because the bill came to 31€, and apart from the two dishes all we had were two beers and some tiny scraps of bread. We had no way of knowing how much our bill should have been because there was no menu, just the name of the dishes written on a white board. It wasn't a swanky restaurant, just a basic backstreet gaff, so definitely somewhere that should have been reasonably priced.
I guess that should teach us to ask the prices before we eat. ;) It didn't though, because the following day, we once again ate lunch without knowing the prices, but at least the food was half the price of this place. It was crap, but half the price.

Sant'Anna Focacceria ~
We'd seen a large group of people eagerly stuffing their faces at this place, they really looked as though they were enjoying the food, so we thought we'd try it.
I wish we hadn't bothered.
We sat outside in the sun, which was the only good thing about our lunch. I ordered pasta Al Forno, which came in a tinfoil container, was mushy, lacked flavour, and was stone cold. Laura chose penne pasta with aubergines, which was was served on a plate, but was also poorly cooked, lacking in flavour, and completely cold.
So, now we knew why the group of diners we'd seen were eating so eagerly, the food was cold, and nasty, but they were hungry and just wanted to get it over with.
We only ate our food because we were hungry and too tired to go looking for somewhere better.

Drinking in Palermo, Sicily

Corvo Rosso Vendemmia 2010 ~ http://www.duca.it/
My first bootle of wine in Sicily and for the price paid, not a bad one.

L'Antica Taverna Conti ~
We stubbled upon this little bar in the market North of Via Maquedes. Super cheap beer. A mere 1.50€ for a 66cl bottle of Forst beer. Next to the bar was a place selling food, so we both had panino con panelle, a soft sesame seed roll filled with slices of fried chickpea pasta, with a generous squirt of fresh lemon and black pepper. It was mighty tasty, and the cheap beer and great people-watching opportunities saw us returning there every day of our stay in Palermo. While we were busy drinking beer, other customers at the neighbouring tables were busy skinning-up. We got high on the fumes. There was no age discrimination going on with the wacky-backy customers, they ranged from teenagers to pensioners.

Summary ~

Palermo is a funny old town. It is difficult to get an angle on the place. We stayed in the older part of town, and every morning I expected to be awoken by the mezzanine from the local mosque, but there was no mosque, only countless catholic churches. The town felt more like being in North Africa than Southern Europe. It was a strange feeling, but one that was quite endearing. Every street off of the main roads also seemed to house street markets, selling all manner of goods, from fresh fish and vegetables to household cleaning products and clothes. There seemed to be no real order to the markets. No central area for any one kind of product, but rather little clusters.

Video of Palermo, Sicily

Moving on ~

For some unknown reason, there did not seem to be any direct trains from Palermo to any point on the island. Quirky to say the least. Out next stop was going to be Marsala on the East of Sicily. Not a long distance, but still requiring a change of train.

Useful Links ~

Italian Raiways - http://www.trenitalia.com/

Random Musing ~

Richard: The American elections are over and we have Michelle Obama being the Worlds best dressed woman for another 4 years. Walmart shoppers can rejoice in having their style icon in public office for 4 more fashion filled years.
Laura: After many, many, many hours sat outside our favourite bar in the market by our hotel, I observed that I've never seen so many people with curly hair, or so many people with red hair. Some had hair that was both curly and red.