We finished our time with Laura and Rosaria last Saturday, and headed for Palermo for a bit of break! A holiday apart from all the travelling to recharge our batteries. We intend to laze on the beach and see the sites of Palermo. Our apartment is in an old Italian building that has seen better days, however that goes for most of Palermo. As the guidebook says it is "charmingly unkempt". We are located in the heart of this city in the old town near the cathedral. Temperatures are around 30 degrees, with it dropping to 24 degrees during the night. Today we visited the catacombs which was truly fascinating as it has thousands of skeletons and mummified bodies that are set on hooks still with the clothes they were wearing at the time. Men, women and children preserved and displayed so that their loved ones could visit them after death. These corpses were embalmed by the Capuchin monks in the 17 th and 18th century. It is really quite shocking and gets you thinking about your own mortality and what you leave behind when you are gone. It is also a really gruesome but interesting snapshot of the type of clothing worn during those era's. Very macabre.
Tomorrow we are going to Mondello beach to soak up the rays and cool off in the sea.