West Coast Sicily Day 21 Palermo

It's Sunday morning and we set off bright and early in search of the perfect Cannolo. This entails a long walk along the sea front, more or less, to Pasticceria Jose on Via Messina Marine. It's interesting to see some 'ordinary ' areas of Palermo outside the centre but our walk is in vain because they have just opened after holidays and haven't started making them yet! 

We get back to the centre of Palermo just in time for Mass at the Martorana church. The Martorana belongs to a diocese which includes the Albanian communities in Sicily and mass is held according to the Byzantine Rite in the ancient Greek language. This initially is a splendid idea, the inside of the church is spectacular, with a series of 12th century Byzantine mosaics  and the singing and atmosphere are inspiring, for the first hour or so. After I'm ashamed to admit it all gets a bit too much and we eventually sneak out as unobserved as possible before it finishes and spend some time in the pleasant area outside the cathedral where some local children and their Mums are taking advantage of the traffic-free area to learn to skate.

After lunch we go to Villa Giulia, a very pleasant and clean public park, ideal to relax and enjoy nature and escape from the usual Palermo chaos. There are many trees and the park has a formal layout with sculptures and places to sit down. Entry is free and is from Via Abramo Lincoln. The Botanical Garden is next door but we don't visit it.

Left cannolo-less from our morning walk we then go back towards Palazzo Normanni 

and the other side of Porta Nuova on the right through a decidedly grotty area to go to Pasticceria Cappello, which is specialized in Pasticcini di Mandorle and various other concoctions of sweetness. We indulge ourselves before heading back to the calm of our apartment.