Palermo!! What a city!!
We arrived in Palermo by coach from Siracusa. The journey from the south east of Sicily to the north west took 3.15 hours - we paid a very reasonable €15.20 per person for tickets with Interbus.
A part of Italy but also a place apart. Palermo is melting pot of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman and Spanish history and also a melting pot of modern European, African, Middle Eastern and South Asian migration. I found it full of welcoming and warm people.
Palermo is known for its distinctive dialect, street food and markets, medieval churches and palazzos of many style, faded and often shabby Baroque buildings. Palermo is undergoing a transformation though. Modern restaurants, cocktail bars, natural wine emporiums and new museums and art galleries are adding a new kind of buzz.
Make sure you have a good pair of walking shoes.
Like any major city there is petty street crime so look after your belongings and keep your eyes and ears open.
In the sections that follow, I have only listed places that I have personally visited.
STAYING (prices are from June 2023)
Hotel Pontemare
Nice modern hotel in the marina district. Very nice and spacious rooms, helpful staff, good breakfast, etc. Only a 10-15 minute walk to the center.
We paid €125 per night before taxes.
EATING (prices are from June 2023)
Ristorante Ferro
We found this restaurant on our first evening in Palermo at just the right moment.. meaning that we did not have a reservation and managed to nab the very last table they had!
It was a lovely June evening and all the diners were seated on the patio - a tidy space made private by hedges. We were welcomed with both warmth and a glass of prosecco on the house.
The menu is compact and gives the impression of being updated regularly. We shared a salmon carpaccio to start and then ordered a pasta and a steak as our main plates.
It must be said that food took a while to come out but it was delicious when it arrived. The service was very courteous and attentive. We enjoyed our meal here very much. Delightful food. Delightful staff.
Our meal, with a nice bottle of white wine, was €90.
Highly recommended.
Planta
We had walked by Planta on the way back to our hotel a couple of times and there was a nice buzz about the place. Discovering that it was small plates restaurant (a style we like) we decided to try it out one evening.
The space is modern and cool and the atmosphere was further enhanced on the evening we were there by a large party celebrating a birthday. They often have a DJ playing tunes and stay open still quite late.
On our visit they had just the one dinner option consisting of a platter of mixed hot and cold snacks and appetizers at €16 per person. We ordered for two and as soon as it arrived we knew we had a made a mistake - too much food and too much of it as carbs.
Overall all a lovely spot, in a interesting neighbourhood, with a cool vibe and lovely staff. We did not, however, enjoy the food very much but the online reviews are generally positive and that means that others do like the platters they serve. Including a bottle of white wine we paid €57.
Recommended.