Palermo Sicily

The Norman Palace and especially the Palentine Chapel are well worth seeing (and admission is a bit cheaper if you go during the weekdays I think). It's also definitely worth the bus ride up to Monreale to see the mosaics and the views of Palermo below. 2 1/2 days is not a lot of time to see Palermo, so if you want to explore the city at all, you won't be able to fit day trips very easily. Monreale takes about half a day and is doable. We also took a day trip down to the temples at Agrigento which was very worthwhile, but made for a long day (2 hrs each way by bus or train). Don't drive in Palermo unless you have nerves of steel and be careful when walking. I nearly got taken out by a motorcycle screaming around a blind corner.

Arlene, we did Palermo in 2009, and took a day trip on the train to Agrigento. Ruins galore! Rick's book said it was a five minute walk to entrance from the station, but turned out to be a real hike, with no sidewalks or room to get away from the cars whizzing inches past. I don't know if he has corrected this or not. In Palermo, seek out the Piazza Olivella. It is by the church of San Filipo Neri. It's off the tourist path, and has dozens (or more?) of different types of places to eat. I am at work now but will try to find the receipt of the name of the place we ate at, when I get home. My wife saves every receipt and writes notes on the back. They had a big ion of incredible Sicilian wines with great food. (The bottles we had were around 8 euros each.) Dinner starts around 8:00 there, so if you don't wish to wait for a table, get there a little early. Hope you are going to Palermo by train. It was most interesting to have our train loaded onto a ship, sailing across the Straights of Messina for about an hour, and having it reassembled on the other side. You could get off the train while onboard and walk up on deck, plus really clean, nice bathrooms on the ship. Still talk about a bridge some day....