Last Day of Italy

I feel that most of the time when traveling, it becomes a race.
Who can make it to the most museums?
Who has the best stories?
Who has the most stamps on their passport?

I cannot lie and say I have not gotten caught up in the game at some point.
The best part of this particular trip was taking a step back and letting the hares of the world take this one while the tortoise (that would be me) slowly strolls to the finish line. Read More...

Waking up to the slowly approaching view of southern Italy is something I could get used to. I watched out the window for as long as possible before the urge to photograph from outside became too much.

We had arrived in Sicily! Palermo, the capital of the region, was our last Italian stop. After docking, we hopped on another bus once again and headed up the mountain to the small town of Monreale.

Situated high above a mountain overlooking a huge valley, Monreale was a quaint town with cobblestone streets and a pretty impressive cathedral.

We arrived early, and as the cathedral was not yet open to the public, we decided to take our own walking tour while we waited.

The views from this mountainside city were breathtaking.

They even had their own locks of love bridge (fence)!

I even got to have my gelato of the day! Today's pick was strawberry.

Soon, the cathedral was open and we got to step inside. The Monreale Cathedral is known for its glass and gold mosaics.

Seriously- gold everywhere.

After drifting through the small cathedral, we headed back on to the streets as we reluctantly headed towards the bus.

Once again, I spotted a dog.

We headed back in to the main city of Palermo to check out the Palermo Cathedral.

The Palermo Cathedral has a solar observatory built inside. At 12 noon, the sun appears through this pinhole built into the ceiling.

It projects the light somewhere on this line in the floor according to the date. These were used in Italy to standardize the time and the calendar date. At the time that the cathedral was built, Sicily ran their 24 hour day according to the exact sunrise, which was not the same throughout the country. 

On some of the points on the floor, they have decorated the time with the zodiac symbol corresponding to the date.

As a Leo, I do quite enjoy a good lion.

As we wondered around the cathedral, we noticed this blue sign, which seemed quite out of place. It seems that at some point, they decided to build a bathroom behind this marble altar.

Strange, but whatever floats your boat.

And speaking of boats...

I don't even know.

After such a long day in Rome, it was nice to take what almost felt like a break. I did feel a bit like a tortoise slowly getting lost in the streets above Palermo. Having a gelato in my hand as I walk around Italy feels like winning a pretty good race.