After taking our Siracusa host Fabio up on his offer to let us stash our bags after checkout until closer to when our Palermo-bound bus departed, we went and had what just may be in the world top ten of custom-made sandwiches at Caseificio Borderi. It’s probably Ortigia’s worst kept secret and lineups can be punishing at crunch time. To put things in context, we arrived for lunch sandwiches at 10:30 in the morning and only had to wait around 30 minutes. This establishment, in addition to making spectacular sandwiches is also a deli with a large and loyal local clientele. These customers are (rightfully, somehow in my increasingly relaxed opinion) served while the chief sandwich artiste is performing for his pilgrimaging patrons.
Sandwiches devoured and with now confidently procured Interbus tickets, we sat down to enjoy a three hour transit through the Sicilian country side that easily would have been double that had we taken the train instead. Nothing against Trenitalia, but Sicily just isn’t made for rail like mainland Italy north of Umbria is. We arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule and our host Maurizio was there to meet us and gave us a whirlwind tour of our part of the city as he whisked us through stupendous traffic that might even have caused a Mumbai taxi driver to raise an appreciating eyebrow.
If Catania is ruggedly charming, Siracusa the stark contrast between the have and have-nots then Palermo is surely the beating urban heart of Sicily. There is commerce everywhere. Pick any side street/alley, however small, avoid the refuse, step around the plentiful felines and always, always get out of the way of speeding vehicles (that cannot possibly fit through the narrow passages but somehow still do), and you will find establishments that range from dive bars and smoke shops to tourist-grade and fine dining. We even found a grocery store in a bizarrely unlikely location that even when we followed the signs, I was convinced would lead to their loading dock and not the store front. I was wrong.
Energy is in Palermo’s DNA and this makes for an intense few days where you can head out and meander through the streets and countless, almost impromptu-feeling markets, without a plan and still never be bored. We’ll be getting our fill of city life before dialing it back down again over Easter weekend on the coast. Word of caution though, the light-sleeping urbanites that do desire to visit Palermo would be wise to bring earplugs. This Sicilian NYC does not sleep.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://[2600:1f13:e3b:9100:ae18:b451:18d2:e990]/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/resize_2017-04-12-11.37.06.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” /][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]Cats (yes, probably strays) make the back alleys their home in Palermo.
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