Palermo

Driving along the coast to Palermo, the capital city of Sicily. Time to surprise hubby with a sightseeing tour in a different style.

Changing cars: Mini Cooper was parked and… we were discovering Palermo in traditional Fiat500 cinquecentos from 1976.

No seat belts. No roof. Not even doors – only in Italy. 16 horse power. And: it’s not true that cinquecentos can park anywhere.

All we needed: a valid driver license, experience in driving with a stick and closed shoes. Easy for us.

Ready. Steady. Go! 🏁

We had a blast and the coolest tour guides. We “just” followed them and hubby copied their Italian driving style. Good that we had time to adopt that style already.

Driving in Palermo.

Communication between the 2 Fiats via walkie talkies. And that made it feel even more like travelling through time.

Perfect weather, feeling the Dolce Vita and cruising through Palermo’s iconic landmarks in a green Cinquecento.. passing by Falcone-Borsellino murals, Piazza Marina, Cathedrals, Massimo Theater… and so much more.

Our Spanish tour guide was hilarious. she enjoyed the tour as much as we did!

There’s places, where even cinquecentos cannot pass thru, so we walked. Wow! Beautiful!

Fontana Pretoria or the “Fountain of Shame” due to the nude figures, including rumors that the fountain’s waters were infected with syphilis, which earned it the nickname, the Fountain of Shame.

Quattro Canti (Piazza Vigliena): “Quattro Canti” translates to “four corners“, each decorated with statues representing the four seasons.

Us in the middle of the Piazza, kind of.

Loose handbrake, rolling the car, making space for the bikes to park 🫶

We fit everywhere. The old age and the color of the cars help 😌

Parking the cars and visiting Ballaro Market, the traditional market in Palermo selling fresh produce, Sicilian street food, souvenirs… wow! It’s loud, when the vendors are shouting to attract the customers, and the area is characterized by string cultural integration.

Let’s talk about the mafia. Sicily is infamous for being the origin place of the Italian Mafia. Following Sicily’s official inclusion into Italy in the 19th century, the Sicilian Mafia developed as the government failed to maintain citizen control. The Mafia soon became notorious for its extreme violence and involvement in illicit activities, triggering an active anti-mafia movement in response.

While the Sicilian mafia is in decline, street art seems to be on the up.

This mural by Rosk & Loste of two brave judges killed by the Sicilian mafia near the port area.

A beach stop. Including local delicious biscuits.

Crystal clear water. Can you see the fish 🐟?

A former *stabilimento balneare* (bathing establishment) has been turned into a Michelin star restaurant.

Not only we had fun cruising around in the beautiful Fiats. People loved seeing them and would take pictures and give a thumbs up, we felt like celebrities! Lol.

This was a lot of fun and made us smile. A perfect day to end our Italian Roadtrip. And hubby got complimented as “the best Fiat cinquecento driver on this tour”. Salvo might even consider letting hubby drive this mint Fiat with basket seats.

Salvo has in total 10 Fiat Cinquecentos, and one looks nicer than the next. Here are some of the other beauty’s:

Nobody is allowed to drive the mint cutie (maybe hubby next time).

Unfortunately, it’s time to leave Sicily. Next stop: Palermo’s port for the ferry to Genova. >20 hours on the sea sounds longer than it was.

Well, we soaked up the sun, got our vitamin C & D storage filled up. iPhone photo storage is also full. We slept a lot, chilled, moved, swam, chilled, read, painted…. So many fantastic memories, and definitely a trip to remember. It was divine!

Ready to go back home, not so ready for work on Monday. Lol.