Sicily

From February 8th to the 12th, I made a trip to Palermo, Sicily with my friend Andrea.  We got a cheap flight which had a 9 hour layover in Rome. We took full advantage of this and took a bus to the city to have lunch. In just a few hours we were able to see the Spanish Steps, Fontana de Trevi, and the Vatican. My first impression of Italy was very bad and lawless driving... This would later be confirmed.

We arrived late in the night to Sicilian families cheering their relatives' returns to Sicily, this was both interesting and funny when you imagine the American version of a homecoming to this. We got to our room shortly before midnight. It was a weird bed and breakfast type place and I kinda doubt the bed sheets had ever been changed, but for the money it wasn't bad. It was in the absolute heart of Palermo, but this meant loud noise and cars honking horns all night.

The first day, we had breakfast near the harbor then explored the city. We got a nice view of everything from the top of the cathedral.

On the second day, we visited a catacomb where embalmed bodies have been left positioned on the wall. There is a famous body of a two year old girl, Rosalia Lombardo, who died in 1918, and she looks almost as if she is just sleeping.

On the third day we went for a hike up the mountains surrounding the city. Other than a little rain, this allowed us to get a great view of the city and the Mediterranean.