In the Port | The View from our Stateroom
Today the Brilliance docked in the capital of Sicily, Palermo. This city has seen some real action, and is home to a hardy and congenial people who are passionate and animated. Sicily is the birthplace of the Italian Mafia and also home to some amazing landscapes and great food.
Dressed Up
Last night we had the formal dress dinner. Guests were dressed in their finery, and turned out for an excellent meal. We hung out with two other guests from Miami (PC!) and attended the post dinner show with them. The show featured ‘American Dream’ and they presented a tribute to Motown and select songs by the Temptations, the Platters, the Four Tops and many others.
Our day began at around 8:30am as we made our way to the Windjammer Café for a quick breakfast. Wasting no time, we departed for the shore and in no time, we had cleared the port and started walking aimlessly into Palermo’s main city district. The blocks are low rise tenements, the streets are narrow and the plazas are a wonder.
On the Bus
We met with a couple from the Cruise Critic meet and greet, and followed them onto the ‘Hop On/Hop Off’ tourist bus (which cost a small fortune). The bus ran through several main streets before it inexplicably doubled back. At we were heading west on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, after passing some amazing buildings, we were stopped suddenly by a large group of student protesters. As they were passing the bus, it started to rain, s it became a lot more cold and miserable.
Protesters | Rain!
After about half an hour the protesters passed the bus and we continued on past the Palermo Cathedral, and then looped back to where we had hopped on the bus originally. At that point the bus hit the same protesters again just near the Garibaldi Theatre, so we decided to get off and go via foot. We walked north up Via Settimo until we reached Giardino Inglese (a large sculptured park) which had, ironically, not much of interest a round it that we could find.
Garibaldi Theatre | Cathedral
This part of town was very up market, lots of high end fashion stores and official looking buildings, but we decided to backtrack towards the catacombs and made our way to the corner of Via Maqueda and Emanuele, where we then tracked west to see the Palazzo Dei Normanni.
Piazza Vigliena
We met another couple from the Cruise Critic meet and greet and had a chat before we spotted the Red ‘hop on/off’ bus again. Deciding to get value for money, we jumped back on the bus and arrived back on Via Enrico Amari.
Palazzo Dei Normanni
We decided to try and find a restaurant I had found on Trip Advisor, which was up near the Inglais park. We walked up using side roads, taking photos every now and then. The restaurant was closed 
We back tracked through the roads, carefully staying away from the tourist areas, and eventually found a small Italian restaurant which seemed like a local Sicilian place – no other tourists – but plenty of locals.
Area near where we ate
Here we ordered bread and Spaghetti and soaked in the atmosphere. The meal was exactly what good Italian should be – not oily or sticky – but well cooked and tasty. We paid and left to return to the ship around 2:30pm. Once back on board Toni rested and I went around the top decks taking photos before also returning to the stateroom for about two hours light sleep.
Brilliance at Dock