Thursday in Sicily

 [Thursday 21 April 2005]

After a leisurely morning we drove to the old tonnara at Scopello and walked around a bit before driving further on through Scopello to the south entrance to Lo Zingaro nature preserve. 

tonnara

parking lot for the preserve

coastal path through the preserve

We parked and then walked in for about 3 kms – the path winds its way right along the sea shore but rather high up the side of the mountains but making for fantastic views – before turning back to the parking lot. We then headed towards Palermo but got off the autostrada at the Partinico exit and took the back roads through some of the most dramatic and rugged mountainous terrain we had yet come across on our way to the cathedral of Monreale. 

Monreale, in front of the cathedral

At Monreale we stepped inside the cathedral and were struck by the fantastic sight of thousands of mosaic images – in fact Monreale is noted for its mosaics, rivaled only by the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna. Truly, as the saying goes, if you come to Sicily and don’t see Monreale, “you arrive as a donkey and leave as an ass.”

From Monreale we drove down into the outskirts of Palermo to pick up the bypass back to the autostrada. Once again we were faced with the stark reality that to drive in or even near Palermo requires one to be heavily medicated. It is crazy indeed and further confirmed for us that we will take the train into the city on Friday.