Walking around Palermo • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

What amazed me about the city is when you’re walking around Palermo you see a lot of things that you probably don’t expect to see. Sicily has been left behind economically in comparison to other places in Italy and the tourism has not been that robust. But I see a big change in that and a great improvement and many new building projects and renovations going on. You will see some poorer parts of the city right next to a newly renovated and beautiful church or a very nicely decorated Trattoria or bar. This is a great city to walk around and to just go around the backstreet to see what you can find. You need at least three days in the center to start to see some of the interesting attractions. Here are some of them.

Royal Palace statue — This is a statue being renovated at the Royal Palace

Street food — a back alley restaurant with food already prepared. This is a Sicilian eggplant dish and a Limoncello with very fresh bread. The people sitting next to me were from England and we had an interesting discussion.

Italian duk duk — This looks like a duk duk but the driver was playing Randy Travis country music which I found refreshing.

The King of Spain — Some well-known fellow who is dressed like a medieval Viking but it seems it might be King Philip the fifth of Spain

One of the interesting Piazza with a few churches of Norman and Arabic architecture. I took a shot when the Carabinieri (national police) were driving through.

Santa Katrina Church — Santa Catarina Church

I went to a local café and they had homemade deep-fried rice balls with other stuff inside. It was a good little breakfast

Street art — Street Art very close to my apartment

Delicious pizza — Not much much thickness to the topping but very tasty and the crust was crunchy so delicious

My eating place — This narrow alleyway is where I often eat, near the apartment

Small Piazza — A small Piazza near my apartment

Narrow roads — These pathways became roads hundreds of years after the buildings had a foundation

Delicious pasta vongole — This spaghetti vongole which delicious. It had a buttery taste

Smart kid — This kid with the sunglasses just looked like a mover and shaker

Good place to eat — You can find better food somewhere in the city but for the price performance and the closeness to the apartment this has been a good choice and they are serving me well as a repeat customer

Thai Restaurant — I don’t think this place is open anymore. I would’ve liked to at least look at the menu

My favorite café — Walking around Palermo I found this is my favorite café with different kinds of morning bread with coffee. I usually order café Lungo which means “long coffee”. So it’s just espresso with a little more water.

Pastry — The different pastry offerings at my coffee shop

Nearby Piazza — This is a statue in front of the church at Piazza San Domenico

New façade — This is a church in this Piazza which is getting a new façade it seems

Face hair — Trying to look more distinguished with face hair. I wonder if I will get more respect?

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