There are several forum posters who do fabulous trip reports, but I’ll do my best. We are continuing to travel in Italy on a My Way Italy tour, but I’m afraid I’ll forget things if I don’t do this now.
We departed Las Vegas 20 April: LAS-LHR-FCO. Current travel rules are different, so “yay” to that. I was a little surprised that only about 5 of us waiting in the hoard at the boarding area for about 30 min. chose to mask. British Airways was really strict on the flight to Rome about masks. We arrived in Rome at 22:40. First hiccup - Hilton Rome Airport did not/does not have a shuttle to the hotel. If you arrive and don’t know this, go up the skybridge that connects to the parking lot and follow the signs that show a bed with the Hilton logo. It’s about 5-10 min. walk with some moving sidewalks. Any skybridge works.
The next morning we took the flight to Palermo on ITA. They were much stricter about masking and proper type. B&B Delle Vittorie arranged a car service since we knew jet lag would be tough. On the way into Palermo watch for the monument to Giovanni Falcone, an Italian judge, who was blown up by the Mafia with a bomb on the motorway connecting the airport to the city. It’s a tall red pillar on the mountain side. The service, location and the staff at Delle Vittorie were wonderful. We walked the main streets and found a restaurant called “Otto” on Via Maqueda. We loved the food and we loved the staff. Lots of mask wearing even on the streets.
The following morning we visited Teatro Massimo and took the tour. They do a bilingual tour, first in Italian and then in English. They were practicing for “Tosca” and we were allowed to sit for a few minutes and listen - breath-taking. We tried the HOHO bus after lunch and it was OK. We just took it around the central part and it did give us an overall orientation. When we got off and tried to walk to another stop, we got lost. That was a frequent scenario for us in Palermo. We had booked a Streaty Food Tour for that evening and it was wonderful. The other participants were friendly and Salvatore, the guide, was animated and engaging… and challenged us to try new things. Even the spleen sandwich turned out to be delicious. It’s thinly sliced, so it’s not so evident that it’s spleen.
On Sunday we visited the Cathedral and the 3 churches in Piazza Bellini. They are doing work inside the Cathedral, so there were some areas covered up. The sides of the building outside are beautiful, so don’t miss those. Our favorite church in Piazza Bellini was Santa Caterina. The views from the roof are amazing, but you have to climb to get there. There is a pastry shop there as well that is very popular.
We had dinner at Make, which was underneath the Delle Vittorie. They do a delicious lasagne Bolognse. Monday’s plan was a visit to the Normal Palace and Palatine Chapel. It was a national holiday, so things were crowded and we hadn’t purchased advanced tickets. However, the wait was only about 15 min. Also, they closed at 12:30 that day. We weren’t really prepared for the beauty of the mosaics in the Palatine Chapel; the gold really sparkled. The rooms in the Norman Chapel were just as interesting. We ended the day with a No Mafia tour, which wasn’t what we expected, but still fascinating. It focused on the effort to eradicate the system of “protection money” and also those who gave their lives in an effort to fight the Mafia. Dinner was an arancina at Ke Pelle - they are worthy of their reputation.
Snippets: the cheapest Aperol spritz were in Palermo and you’ll get chips or snack with them. You have to be bold crossing the street, but use the crosswalks -traffic doesn’t stop. Follow the crowd.