Our Palermo palace is the only one with one we have booked during this trip with one of those mezzanine bedrooms that takes advantage of the high antique ceilings in the buildings, placing our bed directly under the wood beams of the ceiling. Overnight the rain continued. We discovered that the roof had a minor leak when Mick stepped into a small puddle on the floor at about four am. The drips missed our bed by about 5 centimetres- very lucky. All we needed was a small towel on the floor. The internet was not working when we woke up either, so Mick emailed Rafaella who replied immediately and during the day the leak was attended to. The internet came back on so all was well.(It turns out that there seem to be Internet - not wifi- drop outs a couple of times a day, but they don't seem to last long.)

We got out early - the rain had stopped - to do our shopping, and to see our neighbourhood in the daylight. The area we are in is a part of the historic city which suffered badly from the bombing, and had traditionally been an Arab area, called the Kalsa. Until a few years ago, many buildings had remained unrepaired, and the area had a pretty bad reputation. It is now on the up and up, although both of us were a bit disconcerted by the comparative absence of people as we made our way here last night down the narrow streets, with a number of still damaged buildings, and a notable absence of other people. It looked much friendlier in the daylight!

We collected groceries from the Carrefour and brought them back and then headed out via a cafe for breakfast and then to meet our tour guide Naida - not a typo - for our Streaty street food tour.. Once again there were only two us, so it was effectively a private tour at group prices. Once again, the off season advantage tells. She spoke excellent English and was very good at her job. She took us around Capo market first after telling us about the Theatre Massimo where we met- the largest in Italy. The markets were very busy and full of amazing fresh produce and lots of busy interactions happening. This reminded me of the Catania markets we had seen in 2011- also full of life. Naida is well known to the stall holders and stopped to buy bread and cheese and olives for our " picnic" later.

We stopped and sat down to try the deep fried chick peas - panelle. - and potatoes with mint - cazzilli- and also cardoon, which I've not seen before. Last but not least came the Arancini which are famous in Palermo. Every year on December 13th the people of Palermo honour St Lucy. The legend is that in 1646 the town was hit by a terrible famine. They prayed to St Lucy and a ship full of wheat arrived and saved the town. From that day on, St Lucy is honoured on December 13th and the people don't eat anything with flour, as a recollection of their time of going without. Naida told us that this gives them a great excuse to eat lots of arancine which the Palermitans love. The Palermitans use the feminine for these stuffed rice balls - one arancina, two arancine. The Catanians, who also love the dish use the masculine (arancino/i). The Catanians have a tomato sauce in their meat arancini, and the Palermitans don't have it in their arancine. However spelled, it was all delicious.

Naida's commentary took in many of the city's sights - the churches, the city square (nicknamed the Piazza of shame because the nude statues created such a stir in a Palermo where the renaissance hadn't arrived), the Quattro Canti, the magnificent Arab-Norman Duomo (jaw dropping), and others along the way. However, it was the food that was the star. Much of this was purchased at or near one or other of the markets. The star was the Capo - bustling with vendors for fruit and veg, seafood, meet, cheese, fried food, spices, everything you need to feed the family. In addition to the already mentioned arancine, we tried panelle (thin chickpea fritters), and cazzilli (a somewhat rude name for potato croquettes). However, before we had even entered the markets, Naida offered a taste of a local cucina povera meat dish called frittata - basically all the leftovers from the slaughter of a calf ( and I mean all) boiled then fried and either eaten in a sandwich or on a piece of paper. I went for the latter. Perfectly acceptable, but not a recipe I'll be looking to get my hands on! Along the way Naida was buying ingredients for our schiticchio- picnic. Almonds, bread from Monreale, olives, cacciocavallo cheese.

Just past the textiles market we both had sfincionelli- a kind of cross between focaccia and pizza. Light, thick, spongy dough about 2cm thick, covered with a thin paste of blended tomato paste, onion and bread crumbs, with slices of tomato.

The next stop was at the Taverna Azzuro. I'd be inclined to call it a working men's pub except for the fact that Naida informed us that they were either unemployed or retired, by and large. And, in the evening it has become a trendy spot for young folk. A couple of pictures attached. It was here that we spread our ingredients at the end of the counter, chose from three sweet local wines - Sangue, Zibibba, or Marsala. (Anne had Sangue, I had the Zibibbo - both too sweet for me really). All around us, the men just ignored us and got on with drinking wine from plastic cups and beer from bottles, and spilling out into the street. Pictures showed us Toto, the rotund patron, many years ago. As he says, apparently, the hair has changed but the stomach hasn't.

Next delicacy - again Mick only - was pani ca' meusa. This time, the ingredients list for this offal delicacy was less opaque, if no less confronting. The spleen and lungs of veal on a roll. This time, the frying came first, and Giuseppe sold it for a few cents. Again, by no means unacceptable, particularly with a dash of lemon and salt.

Last stop was the magnificent Duomo, mentioned above. We actually went inside, but it is the exterior, with its blend of Arab and Norman influence that is the star. Don't take my word for it, check out the picture attached. Then to Bar Marocco for a canollo- stuffed with sweetened ricotta. A fitting climax to an excellent three and a half hours! We could hardly walk after this.

One of the things we noted about Palermo is that they have really tried to make the city pedstrian - friendly, so in the centro storico there are many streets from which cars are excluded, removing a passegiatta from the list of extreme sports!

After a little rest, and still not hungry, we thought we'd explore the waterfront - just a hundred or so metres away. This is not an area where there has been traffic calming, so we took our lives in our hands and crossed the major road to discover a rather dark, forbidding patch of turf between us and the ocean. We fairly quickly decided there was little to be gained from a walk in this area. On the way back, we stumbled on the free circular bus, and just hopped on on spec, taking the full circuit. These little 'navette' hold about 15 sitting and the same number standing. The standout feature of the evening was looking down from my window to see just how small the gap is between the side of the bus and the parked cars. Without exaggeration, it was down to under 10 mm on occasions.

Walking home we passed a seafood restaurant literally around the corner that looks really local and really interesting. Had a chat with one of the waiters. One for later.