I had written a lot on the 3 hour journey from Agrigento to Palermo and all was lost – Grrrrrrr!
Lots of facts and figures + history of Sicily all lost. Attempting to remember a bit about it:-
– Population – Sicily 5MM, Palermo 1MM, Catania 500K etc
– History – 7c BC Vikings the 5c BC Greeks then NormNs by 1060 then various others including Spanish. Eventually the various kingdoms – Milan, Venice, Tuscany Rome (under the Pope) etc until the 19th century (1820-1870) when the various city / states became one country under a king until 1920’s when Mussolni and the dictatorship and eventually the Republic after WW2 in 1945.
After a wander around and lunch in Palermo at the outside cafe established in 1860, called Antico Caffe Spinnato where we also enjoyed Pistacho lemon etc gelato, we went for a short ride to Monreale to visit the cathedral.
Mons – Mountain. Reale – Royal thus Monreale is royal mountain and hunting grounds of royalty. We climbed the 92 steps from the coach drop to the cobble street then to square and cathedral with local guide Marilu.
Carhederal at Monreale – King William II (of Sicily and known as “The Good”) ordered the construction in 1174 and his tomb as well as his father’s (King William I) are in the cathedral. The most spectacular combination of Byzantian, Arab, Moore, Cristian, Greek Orthodox art in mosaics. Some 26,000 sq ft of predominantly gold leaf mosaics showing stories from the Old Testament – Creation, Noah and the flood etc adorned the upper walls, sides had the Muslim non animal / human iconography of trees and stars as well as a massive Christ with hands outstretched. The little finger was 1 meter / 3 feet long, arm to arm was 45 feet and head to chest was 20 feet high.
After the cathedral we went to the adjoining Benedictine Monastry with the central garden and hundreds of columns all different.
Then the 2 1/2 hour travel back to Agrigento for dinner at the Hotel Kaos.
Roger & Anne Travels 