Piazzas and streets
One of the original gates.
Caper bush growing out of a crevice in a wall.
The China Berry tree, known here as Rosary Tree ( seeds are used to make rosaries) line, most of Palermo’s city streets and provide welcome shade on the hot summer days.
When the Arabs took control of Palermo in 832, they transformed the Byzantine basilica standing on this spot into a mosque and banished the Bishop of Palermo from town. Some 240 years later, in 1072, the Normans drove the Arabs from Sicily, establishing Palermo as their capital and re-consecrating the cathedral. Therefore, Palermo cathedral is the most arabesque looking cathedral I’ve ever seen. As an architectural complex, it is characterized by many different styles, due to a long history of additions, alterations and restorations, the last of which occurred in the 18th century.
Eating our way around Sicily.
The Palermo Opera House is the largest opera house in Italy, and third in size after the Paris Opera and Staatsoper in Vienna.
