Sunday Dinner With Vito And Piero; And Dessert From Cappella's

"Restaurants near me" and some high recommendations from a guidebook took us to the Trattoria Ai Cascinari, famous for its old-style Sicilian cuisine. It was here we ascertained for sure that Sicilians also observe Mothers' Day, and on the very same day as in the USA. The restaurant was large and sprawling, half a dozen different rooms, it was mid-afternoon and packed with multi-generation families, but it seemed like the kind of place that merited a half hour's wait to be seated. Under ordinary circumstances, the table we got would have been objectionable--in the entry way, right between Vito's kitchen and Piero's service command center--but 50 yard line seats for a noted restaurant on a busy day, and thus both entertaining and educational. Piero spoke enough English to help us order and understand and make us feel welcomed. Throughout the afternoon, there were hugs and kisses as people left, and more than once Vito was called from the kitchen to be thanked and complimented.

The amuse-bouche--"to welcome you," Vito said--deep fried
patates, some with mint, a couple of pizza puffs; about 1700
calories by my reckoning; each

We split a Palermo pesto pasta...walnuts and pistachios instead of  pine nuts

I had the grilled tuna, of course (Sorry, Charlie); grilled with mint leaves;
wonderful; a revelation

Vicki's Sicilian meat roll, beef, cheese, ham, egg, breaded and
deep-fried; I got to eat most of it; not pictured: the Sicilian
contorni, the wine, the espresso...all of it totaling 40E

We've never gone wrong with a restaurant proud of its history;
and in English, too

For dessert later, we walked to Cappello pasticceria, near the Royal Palace

Cannolli, of course, and Sicilian pistachio cake; a pretty good
food day all told

Palermo Street Scenes

After the market, we visited the Palermo cathedral, then a variety of main and side streets. It was a beautiful Sunday, everyone was out, and, Mothers' Day here too, the restaurants were packed

There's a church on every street, sometimes two; or three

Some well worth looking at

Italians have a different set of values which it comes to the exteriors of their
buildings; unpainted plaster falling off old stones and mortar, external plumbing
and electric lines are the rule in the centro storico here; the facade might be
spruced up; maybe not

Do not leave your motor scooter outside overnight, even if chained to a bollard...

On an alley, nearing the cathedral; great old balconies

A half dozen matrons sitting in the alley, chatting, texting;
look straight through to see some of the cathedral sculpture

Palermo cathedral, mid-12th century, when the Normans took over; yes,
those Normans

Stern exterior

Bow

Chancel painting

Meridian

What meridians are good for

Much of the downtown is pedestrianized

Peering into the courtyard of a colossal old buillding

Lemoncello shoppe

Food cart

Random beautiful piazza

Puppet shoppe; among other things; puppets are big here; e.g., Pinocchio

Two intersecting pedestrianized main streets

1/4 of the Four Corners; ground zero Palermo

Evidently the Normans brought cannoli to Siciliy

Vlaams friteshuis!

Street scene

Not one of the better examples

Porta Nuova, 1589

Royal Palace

Royal palace fountain

Ballora Market

For Sunday, May 13th, Mothers' Day, we had planned on taking the bus up to Monreale, overlooking the city, to see the cathedral there, it's 12th century mosaics, its beautifully sculpted cloisters, and its great views of the city and coast. We got an early start--the cloisters close at 1:30PM on Sundays--but grossly overestimated the capacity Palermo's bus system to get us perhaps 15k in under 3 hours. Other than delays and heavy traffic, the main problem is that the Monreale bus, #389, known as Europe's most pick-pocket infested, only runs every 75 minutes. This to see probably the #1 tourist attraction in the area. The very limited public service obviously benefits the private concession, picking up at the same stop, that will carry you to Monreale and back for a mere 20E each. Seeing that we would not get to Monreale before the cloisters closed, we decided to spend the day in town, walking around, taking in such sights as appeared. Targets of opportunity. From the Royal Palace, which we'd see another day, we walked in the direction of the Ballaro Market, Palermo's large daily market that encompasses many streets. I can't say it was the biggest or best market we have seen, although it was certainly the most unstructured. We did buy some Sicilian sun-dried tomatoes, the best, and some pistachio pesto.

Unstructured

Not singing

Available by the kilo or ton

Sorry, Charlie; the Mediterranean has some big tuna, and April and May are the
time of the big run past Sicily; this is by far the largest fish head I have ever
seen at a fish market; and I have seen a few markets

Escargot guy

Zucchini langa; like an entire meter langa; adjoining item
unknown

Very, very large beans

Beets?