Sunday, May 7
Here we are in Palermo. We started the day with a guided tour of the Teatro Massimo, across from our room. This is the third largest theater in Europe, after only Paris and Vienna. It was built in the late 19th century during the pride of the unification of Italy. The outside is stately classical. The inside is more flamboyant, the style the Italians call “liberty.” We were hoping to see an opera or something there but nothing on now. We got to sit in the royal box and admire the gold leaf, the Murano glass and the 5 tiers of boxes.
We spent most of the day just wandering the streets. Many are nominally pedestrian-only (watch out for motor scooters) and filled with people. In fact, they were filled with people all day. The streets also hold buskers and swap meet vendors, contrasting dramatically with the elegant stores. For lunch we had the local arancini, rice balls filled with meat or vegetables or cheese or sweets. Later we found a traditional open-air market. The shops were closed but there were many food vendors with enticing or intriguing selections. Whole squid anyone? We were sorry we had already had a large lunch and couldn’t try anything. Later gelato and then a seafood dinner so dramatically presented that I needed to take a picture of it. (How tacky!) Then we joined the passeggiata, listened to music and admired the light displays above the streets.