|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is the area around the train station that has not changed in more than seveb hundred years. It is a maze of narrow streets flanked by tall crooked buildings and it makes a great place to ramble and enjoy the atmosphere of the street market that inhabits its centre. Nearby the baroque church of Il Gesù, the Jesus was the first Jesuit foundation in Sicily and decorated in great splendour gloriously decorated inside, to Piazza Ballarò - along with adjacent Piazza del Carmine the focus of a raucous daily market, with bulging vegetable stalls, unmarked drinking dens and some good snack stalls. On the outer edge of the area is the church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti. This is a small church abundantly evident in its Arabic design with five yellow domes. It is now deconsecrated and you can spend a relaxing hour in the thirteenth century cloistered garden at the back of the church. Climbing the nearby steps will take you to the Palazzo dei Normanni or Palazzo Reale or Royal Palace. This palace was originally built by the Saracens, expanded by Normans, and the façade was attached by the Spanish. Today it is the seat of the regional Parliament. Some of the Royal Apartments are open to the public, most notably the Sala di Ruggero brimming with twelfth-century mosaics. The Cappella Palatina is one of the religious jewels of Palermo that was dedicated to St. Peter. It is considered the most beautiful palace chapel in the world with its entire interior covered in twelfth-century glass mosaics on gold ground depicting the life of Christ. On the second floor is the observatory that provides excellent views of the city of Palermo. |