Palermo Street Food

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The food in Sicily is among the best we’ve sampled during our journey with good quality, fresh products. We’d heard that Palermo in particular had a tradition of street food and so we made it our mission to try as many different kinds as possible. I know you appreciate these sacrifices that we make…

Arancini

Arancini quickly became a favourite of mine. It’s a ball of cooked flavoured rice, a bit like a plain risotto, containing a filling plus a lump of cheese, then covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried. Fillings include mince and peas, mushrooms, or ham and cheese and generally the different flavours are different shapes (sphere, cone, cylinder) so that the shopkeeper can tell them apart. Best eaten warm while the cheese is soft and oozing.

Sfincione

Everyone knows about pizza and sfincione is a Sicilian version. The base is thicker than a normal pizza and more spongy, slightly reminiscent of a crumpet. The traditional topping is a mix of tomatoes, onions, and anchovies, and dotted with a little caciocavallo cheese which is stronger than the usual mozzarella.

Pane con panelle

Thin pieces of dough made from chickpea flour, deep fried until crispy and served in a crispy bread bun with salt and lemon juice. Pleasingly similar to a chip butty.

Along the same theme are sandwiches containing crocchè, deep fried balls of mashed potato flavoured with herbs. Or if you can’t decide you can get them in the same bun.

Pane ca’ meusa

This is veal spleen, cooked in a big pot and served in a bread bun with grated cheese. Andrew had a bite but wasn’t keen. I thought it tasted fine but not as good as the smell from the vats of cooking meat wafting down the street. I’d always thought that spleen was a mixture of different offal but actually it’s a distinct organ.

Gelato

Gelato is common across Italy, the Palermo twist is serving it in a brioche bun. We didn’t try it as most of the gelaterias are closed in the winter and it was a bit cold for us to go hunting for it.

Cannoli

Cannoli are a distinctly Sicilian dessert. It’s a fried pastry tube filled with sweetened ricotta and decorated with glacé cherries or candied peel. You might recall that in the final scenes of The Godfather: Part III a cannolo was used as an assassination tool which always made us a little nervous as we took the first bite!

Spritz

And to wash it all down? Well either a very short sharp kick in the ribs from an Italian espresso, or if that’s not for you then allow me to present the Spritz. It’s a drink we first got a taste for several years ago in Venice with our friend Heidi. It’s made from Aperol, an orange based bitter liquor, mixed with prosecco and soda and served over lots of ice with a fat slice of orange. Not strictly street food but we do recommend drinking it in a pavement cafe so you’re outside at least! Dangerously refreshing.

Monreale, Sicily

Sicilian Markets

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The markets in every town we’ve stayed in Sicily have been fantastic. They’re full of interesting sights, lots of bustle and fresh local produce. We’ve stayed predominantly in apartments which it turns out is usually a cheaper accommodation option than guesthouses or even hostels and also allows us to save money on food by cooking for ourselves most of the time. In turn this means that we can more fully immerse ourselves in the markets by shopping there too.

Markets tend not to be in a large building or an open square but arranged through streets. They consist of a mixture of stalls, shops, and stalls spilling into the street as extensions of shops.

Vegetable stall in Mercato il Capo, Palermo

In the winter months, both globe artichokes and cauliflowers are abundant. Confusingly the Italian name for these green cauliflowers is ‘broccoli’!

There are many different kinds of tomatoes available in the Sicilian markets – ‘normal’ round ones, plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (both round and plum shaped), and these ribbed beef tomatoes

One of the main crops in Sicily is citrus fruits and winter is the main season. The markets were full of different varieties (clockwise from top left): knobbly citrons are used for making candied peel; we like that the oranges are sold with leaves attached (you can also see prickly pear fruits in this photo); lemons; blood oranges

The Fish Market in Catania – bustling in the morning, just a few drifting carrier bags and gulls picking up scraps in the afternoon

Swordfish was one of the most common (and easily recognised) fish that we saw in Sicily. We were surprised by how big the individual fish are

Salt cod (baccala in Italian) is a Sicilian specialty. These fillets are drying in the sun but we saw it for sale completely dry, with a salty crust and stiff as a board, or pre-soaked for shoppers who hadn’t planned so far ahead

We enjoyed watching the butchers preparing the meat. They also make delicious sausages and parcels of meat or chicken stuffed with, for example, pistachios or ham and cheese before being neatly tied with string or assembled onto skewers

We spotted this roast suckling pig on top of a butcher’s counter in Palermo

While shopping we learnt that we needed to listen for scooters zipping through the market (just like in Vietnam)

Delicatessens sell a range of cheese as well as cured and cooked meats. We found a good trick was to ask for our parmesan cheese to be ‘macchinato’ – the shopkeeper would then weigh the block before putting it through a pulverising machine behind the counter. Much fresher than the dry parmesan dust from the supermarket and better than we could manage at home as none of our rental apartments was stocked with a grater

I love this stall as it’s packed with so many Sicilian specialties – sundried tomatoes, dried herbs and chilli flakes, olives and salted capers, preserved fish (salt cod, smoked herrings and anchovies both salted and jarred in olive oil)

The owner of this olive stall in Siracusa thrust a spoon containing two olives towards us and said in his incredibly gravelly voice “Eat this. It’s good.” He was right

Walnuts are also locally grown. This stall was in Catania

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a country which has influenced the whole world’s coffee culture, freshly roasted and ground coffee is easy to come by

There were a few non-food shops here and there in the markets such as this knife sharpener hard at work in the Vucciria Market in Palermo

Cefalù, Sicily

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Cefalù is another Sicilian beach town like Taormina that we imagine would be very popular and very busy in the summer, however on a crisp and somewhat windswept day in early January it was largely deserted. Most of the restaurants and cafes were closed, with only the odd souvenir shop spilling out into the pretty cobbled streets.

Cefalù is the nicest beach town we’ve visited so far in Sicily. You can see the Cathedral in the middle and the massive fortress rock to the right

Cefalù has the nicest beach we’ve visited so far in Sicily, it’s long and sandy, and just like Taormina, there are plenty of other reasons to visit if beaches aren’t your thing, or, as it was for us in January, not quite beach weather.

Lavatoio Medievale

While looking for possible things to see or do in Cefalù, I found the curiously named Lavatoio Medievale – and thinking that Lavatoio sounded like lavatory my first thought was this was a medieval bathroom, and I was close.. turns out the translation actually means wash house!

A very practical last use of the little Cefalino river that runs through Cefalù before it reaches the sea – a medieval wash-house!

Cefalù Duomo

Built by the then King of Sicily, Roger II in 1131 as an act of gratitude for surviving a bad storm and landing on the town’s beach, the Cefalù Cathedral pokes its head and shoulders above the rest of the town, still holding a commanding position despite itself being towered over by the almighty backdrop of the giant La Rocca behind it.

The two large Norman towers of the Cefalù Cathedral

We knew we were going to like the Cefalù Cathedral before we saw it, and we were looking forward to seeing the mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in the apse, but for all we knew what we were expecting to find, the scale and magnificence still surprised us.

The nave and apse of Cefalù Cathedral. No matter how many times we walk into a cathedral or mosque we’re always impressed at how big they are inside

Christ Pantocrator, Chefalù Cathedral, Sicily

Close up of the Christ Pantocrator mosaic. Pantocrator means “almighty” or “all powerful” and refers to this specific style of the depiction of Christ

One thing we noticed about the Cathedral that we haven’t seen in any other was that the stained glass didn’t have the usual depictions of the life of Christ, but were instead a series of abstract colours and shapes reminiscent of a smudged Frank Lloyd Wright. If it were possible to smudge a stained glass window!

We really liked the unconventional stained glass in the Cefalù Cathedral

Cefalù Cloister

Next we went to the adjoining cloister which is a sort of museum – a small entry fee bought us a ticket and a translated map. We felt the guy on the desk was a little disappointed that we asked for the English version given that he had pretty much every language. In Bangladesh we were often mistaken for Japanese (yes, you read that correctly), so we wondered what nationality we looked like.

We weren’t the only ones trying to identify some of the capitals in the Cefalù Cathedral cloisters

The map guided us around the outer path of the cloister, highlighting the capitals of the supporting pilars which have been carved into various forms, including a section of bible stories. Some have been lost to erosion or collapse, and most were of acanthus plants.

Cloister capitals, Cefalù Cathedral, Sicily

Our favourite of the decorative capitals: clockwise from top left: Building the Ark; If in doubt, it’s an acanthus; The acrobats; Hungry crocodiles

Cefalù Beach

Coastal path outside the megalithic wall, Cefalù, Sicily

It’s possible to walk along the outside of the old megalithic fortress walls, at least, it would be when the sea isn’t trying to smash you against them.. we decided to walk back through the town..

Nope, that last picture isn’t the beach but a walkway outside the megalithic walls that used to protect the town. We decided to go the other way as the sea was testing the defences! Once we got to the beach, and even though it was the 5th of January and everyone was walking around in big coats, scarves and gloves, I’d brought my swimming shorts for a quick New Years dip..

Time for a swim in the rough Tyrrhenian Sea. Yes, I am slightly insane

It wasn’t as cold as I remember Lake Baikal being, but I still couldn’t feel my hands or feet after I’d dried off!

La Rocca – The Fortress

I made sure to get all of the sand from between my toes as the next thing on our itinerary was to climb the 270 metres to the top of La Rocca – the giant calcareous crag backdrop to Cefalù. Once a mighty fortress, hence its name, the ancient Greek inhabitants saw it as a gigantic head, and “head” is in fact the meaning of the town’s name.

Easy steps to the top of La Rocca, just a lot of them!

The hike wasn’t difficult as the way is clearly marked and before we knew it we were looking down on all the sights we’d just visited – when the clouds rolled past the view from the top was beautiful.

The view back over the town of Cefalù from the top of La Rocca was easily worth the climb – we were just down there!

The living quarters and bakery on La Rocca, Cefalù, Sicily

Remains of the fortifications on top of the crag include some old living quarters and a bakery on the right

Julie at the Tempio di Diana, La Rocca, Cefalù, Sicily

Julie at the Tempio di Diana, a 9th century BC megalithic temple believed to have been used for the worship of water and likely also for defence

View of Cefalù Cathedral from La Rocca, Cefalù, Sicily

Further round the cliff top trail is the most amazing view of the Cefalù Cathedral

Atop the fortifications on La Rocca, Cefalù, Sicily

After a little scramble up the rubble track we reached the remains of the old castle that once stood at the very top

Cefalù castle dates back to the 13th-14th centuries, and consisted of two towers and twelve rooms. There’s not much left of it save for the floorplan evident from the bottom half of the walls that are about hip-deep in places, and a section of the outer ramparts.

Also visible from the fortress are the remains of the Abbey of Thelema, a small house which was used as a temple and spiritual centre founded by Aleister Crowley and Leah Hirsig in 1920. I must admit that I didn’t know anything about it before we started researching Cefalù, but Aleister Crowley was ranked 73^rd in a 2002 BBC poll of the greatest Britons of all time, having been denounced in the popular press of his day as “the wickedest man in the world” and erroneously labelled a Satanist.

Remains of the Abbey of Thelema, Cefalù, Sicily

The remains of the Abbey of Thelema as seen from the top of La Rocca

Cefalù is a perfectly sized day-trip from Palermo, and we loved the variety of sights and activities.

Valley of the Temples, Agrigento

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Agrigento is a small town on the south-western coast of Sicily. It’s quite a distance from the island’s other tourist sights but definitely on the tourist trail, and well worth the trip for its star attraction, the remains of the Greek city of Akragas. Founded in 582BC it was one of the most important Greek colonies on Sicily. In English it’s commonly known as the Valley of the Temples although it’s not clear why as its Italian name is Collina dei Templi which translates as ‘Hill of the Temples’ and indeed the temple remains are arranged along a ridge.

Valley of the Temples from modern Agrigento town, the Temple of Concord is in the centre of the picture, Temple of Juno far left and you can just make out the columns of the Temple of Heracles on the right

The bus driver unhelpfully drove right past the sight even though 80% of his passengers were clearly tourists, and so we had to walk back up the road for 15 minutes to get to the ticket office. There was a definite cold snap in the air when we visited but we were fortunate to have bright sunshine (and gloves) for our day of exploring.

First we explored the western temples starting with what would have been the biggest, the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This huge temple was 113m by 56m (almost the area of a football pitch) and was not even completed before the city was sacked by the Carthaginians in 406BC. Its stones were raided for use in later constructions right through to the 18th century when some were used for building the nearby port of Porto Empedocle. Because of this, it’s quite hard to imagine how it would have looked. The most interesting features of the temple which can still be seen are eight huge figures of Atlas which supported part of the structure. Several of them have been reconstructed (lying down) and, although they are badly weathered, you can still make out their arms and legs.

Atlas figures in the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus

Further west is the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The temple would have had six columns along the front and back and thirteen down the sides. Its north-western corner was reconstructed in 1836, although apparently somewhat unreliably as they used features from different ages. Despite this these four pillars are now an emblem of Agrigento.

Us in front of the remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux

The land pitches sharply downwards next to the Temple of Castor and Pollux. This was the city boundary and during Greek times held a reservoir of water. It was filled in around the 2nd century AD to become fertile agricultural land. Known as the Garden of Kolymbetra, nowadays it has been restored by the Italian equivalent of the National Trust and is a wonderful citrus orchard kept using traditional irrigation and farming techniques.

Citrus orchard in the Garden of Kolymbetra

We loved wandering through the trees and looking at all the different citrus varieties, familiar ones like orange, lemon, mandarin and grapefruit and unfamiliar ones like the knobbly citron (an ancestor of modern lemons) and the fragrant bergamot orange prized in perfume-making. We took to scratching the fruits’ skins and sniffing to help us identify them. If that sounds a bit naughty, it’s nothing compared to the Italian visitors who were picking and eating oranges, discarding the peels as they went despite the signs forbidding it!

Garden of Kolymbetra (clockwise from top left): Andrew sniffing the bergamot orange; traditional irrigation system; nativity scene in a chapel cut into the cliff – I love that it’s decorated with a variety of citrus fruits

Beyond the garden, standing beside the train tracks, are the remains of the Temple of Jupiter. Just a couple of columns and the outline of a building whose stones are covered in plants

Making our way back to the ticket office and the eastern area, our first stop was another Doric style temple and the most ancient one here dating to the 6th century BC, the Temple of Heracles. As with many of the temples, reconstruction work to put up the row of eight columns was done in the 1920s on the instigation of an Englishman who settled in the area, Captain Alexander Hardcastle.

Temple of Heracles as seen from the road which runs through the centre of the site

Throughout the Kolymbetra Garden and around the temples twisted old olive trees were growing

In 210BC the Romans conquered the area and changed the name to Agrigentum. Under their rule, the city was again prosperous and churches and cemeteries were built on the Collina dei Templi. In the centre of the eastern complex is the incredible Temple of Concord, one of the temples which was converted into a Christian basilica. It is amazingly well preserved and although, unfortunately, it is not possible to enter, you can still see the walls of the inner room, original apart from the arches cut by the early Christians.

The Temple of Concord is where everyone makes a beeline for the obligatory selfie. There was even a wedding party there taking photos in front of it when we arrived

Temple of Concord from the front

Walking further east we passed the remains of tombs cut from the rock, another legacy from the site’s Christian heritage. At the extremity of the ridge is the Temple of Juno.

Temple of Juno

We’re really glad that we went to Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples and enjoyed the town itself too. Its historic centre is on a steep hillside with narrow twisting streets and a church at every turn. The cathedral has a spectacular 16th century wooden ceiling which we sadly couldn’t get a very good look at as the nave is surrounded with scaffolding and they’re trying to raise funds to complete the restoration. It’s just as well that we liked the town as we were stranded there for a couple of days over the New Year because of unseasonal snowfalls! Both buses and trains were prevented from crossing the hills to Palermo on the north coast of the island. We were trying to stay in southern Europe to escape the worst of the winter weather but maybe we’re just in the wrong hemisphere…

two year trip

Andrew and Julie's Travelling Adventures