Day 1 in Sicily: Bad Transportation Decisions, A Charming Hotel and the Blessings of the Rain App

 After a very long journey, we arrived safely in beautiful Palermo-but it wasn’t without its glitches.  After an eight hour flight to Rome and a five hour layover in its airport, needless to say, we were exhausted upon our arrival in Sicily.  The Palermo Airport is about 40 minutes from center-city and we needed to decide how best to get to our hotel. We saw a sign for an airport bus that would get us to the city in only 30 minutes, for six euros each. We saw a similar sign for a taxi, which would have cost 38 euros.  We decided it was worth getting a bit more information about the bus. 


Due to our exhaustion however, we didn’t realize that our goals for this commercial transaction were different than that of the young girl selling us the tickets.  She, who probably had a good night’s sleep, did understand our differences and played us like two fiddles.  With only three hours sleep, two of which comprised of me sleeping on my tray table on the plane, my goal was to get to our hotel as fast as possible for a reasonable price. The young girl’s goal was to just make the sale. 


 When asked how far the bus stop was from our hotel, she said, “Only seven ‘meenoots.’” (Full disclosure—I feel guilty writing this, because her English was a hell of a lot better than my Italian).  We figured seven minutes wasn’t too long to drag our somewhat-stuffed suitcases down a couple of streets in Palermo.  


It turned out to be 40 minutes of streets. Now, we got a bit lost, partially because street signs seem to be optional in this city, but we couldn’t have flown from the bus stop to the hotel in seven meenoots.  Although sleep deprived, I was on high alert because all of the travel books said to be careful of your valuables in the Sicilian capitol because pick-pocketing is rampant and fast-moving scooters will grab the purses of unsuspecting women who had not adequately read their “Fodor’s Sicily” guide books upon their arrival. What had me most worried was when we walked up-and-down the same street three times, making us prime targets, in my mind, for a potential felony.  I was clutching my purse, which was around my neck and pulling my suitcase with my left arm, which of course, includes my mysteriously injured shoulder. After 40 minutes, I felt like that shoulder was yelling “Basta!” Needless to say, Aleve was taken upon our arrival.


Our hotel, strategically located between the old and new cities of Palermo (actually, old and “very old” is more accurate) is a wonderful example of old European charm.  This means the hotel is quaint, the staff is warm and charming and it takes five to ten minutes to figure out how to flush the toilet. Also, there are never enough electrical outlets and one usually has to figure out how to achieve continuous electrical powernwhen any type of charging is necessary. For example, my phone adapter is currently leaning against an inverted espresso cup so the adapter won’t fall out of the socket while I’m charging my phone.


Our room has a small balcony which overlooks a piazza and the Teatro Massimo, the third largest Opera House in Europe.  The view and city excitement just outside our window were magical upon our arrival, but not so much at midnight.  As I grew up in an Italian household, how could I have forgotten that Italians can be at times, loud?  There was yelling and singing til nearly 2 am.  My God, it was a Thursday night!   Didn’t anyone have to get up and go to work on Friday!?!   Thankfully, my phone has the Rain App, which when at full volume, can nearly drown out even the loudest of Italians.


Palermo really is a diverse and fascinating city influenced by centuries of foreign inhabitants, from the Phoenicians, to the Greeks and then the Normans. I can only describe the weather as schizophrenic. First, it’s sunny, then pouring rain, and then repeat these weather changes over and over again all day. The food however, is incredible. That will be for another blog because we are leaving early in the morning to see the Greek ruins of Agrigento and I need to get to sleep—after of course, I put my Rain App on full blast because it is Friday night. 

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