Rich and I really enjoyed our time in Sardinia, Italy, and we were thrilled to head to Sicily for ten full days. We started in the capital city of Palermo before making a loop of Sicily. Priority #1 in Palermo: get Rich’s hair cut. Priority #2: let’s eat!
Day 46: Travel to Palermo, Sicily
Travel from Sardinia to Palermo was super straight forward. We took a bus to the airport, and then took two domestic flights, first from Sardinia to Rome and then from Rome to Palermo.
The flight from Rome to Palermo was about as rowdy as you would expect a flight into Sicily to be: lots of loud talking across seats and people stood up and started jostling with their luggage while the plane was still taxiing into the gate. No fears though: I was sitting next to a nun who said her rosary during takeoff AND landing. Peak Italian.
Our host Guise met us at our AirBNB, which was in a lively Sicilian market, and was absolute heaven after our AirBNB in Sardinia. We checked in and freshened up before heading to dinner at Perciasacchi, a restaurant featured in the New York Times’s 36 Hours in Palermo that focuses on staying true to the Sicilian tradition of using ancient grains in all of their dishes. Rich and I both ordered pasta that was excellent, and the deconstructed cannoli was a mindblowing, other worldly dessert.
Day 47: Let’s Eat!
Rich Gets His Hair Cut in Sicily
But first, if you have been faithfully following this blog, you will have noticed that Rich’s hair has gotten progressively longer and curlier since leaving for Iceland. When we lived in Washington, DC, Rich would only get his haircut at Diego’s, barber to politicians, celebrities, and apparently DC Public Schools Assistant Principals.
Diego, as you might have guessed, is Italian, and it was important to Rich that he got an authentic Italian haircut experience in our travels. And let me tell you, by day 47, it. was. time. So Rich hopped out of bed and headed to the barber while I stayed behind in the apartment to complete our Malta blog post. I told him to take LOTS of pictures. He came home with this:
I guess taking mirror selfies at an Italian barbershop doesn’t exactly scream machismo. Still, his hair looked great, and we headed out to explore eat our way through Palermo with a little extra swagger.
Eating Our Way Through Palermo
Palermo is world famous for street food, and it did not disappoint. While we saw plenty of beautiful sites (the Palermo Cathedral, the Fontana Pretoria, and the Royal Palace of Palermo), we thought it would be more fun to tell you about all of the delicious things we ate in Palermo instead.
Breakfast: Coffee with a Pistachio Croissant
Pistachios are native to Sicily, and the Sicilians use them in every meal. Our cappuchinos and pistachio pastry were a yummy start to the day.
Lunch: Arancini
So arancini are the ubiquitous fried, stuffed rice balls found throughout Sicily. In America, we think pizza and pasta as Italian food, but these treats are actually on every corner in Sicily. For arancini in Palermo, we went to Sfrigola, a hip arancini spot where you can watch the creation from start to finish. If it isn’t obvious from the pictures, these were delicious!
Snack: Granita
While it is pretty hard to beat gelato, granita is an incredibly refreshing runner up in the frozen dessert category. Similar to an Italian ice or water ice (wud-der ice in Philadelphia), it is a frozen treat made of sugar, ice, and flavoring. Sicily was hot, so this hit the spot. Also, in case you are concerned about authenticity, the place where we went has been in operation since the 11th century.
Dinner: Panelle Panini
For dinner, we headed to Nni Franco u’ Vastiddaru, the ultimate in late night street food. They are located on a street that is closed to cars so at least a hundred people order at the window and then stand in the street, talking, laughing, and enjoying their dinner.
Most of the locals enjoyed a spleen sandwich, but we were not that brave. Instead, we ordered a panelle panini. Panelle are fried chickpea fritter-like medallians that they place on a soft roll and serve with fresh lemon. They were so cheap (~$1.75 a sandwich) and so delicious. And it was really fun to stand around in the street with all of the locals!
After Dinner Libations at Bar Garibaldi
Around the corner from Nni Franco u’ Vastiddaru was an incredible bar called Bar Garibaldi. While they had plenty of outdoor seating, they also had a small room filled with records where the Sicilian in charge would put a record on and let it play start to finish.
And what records they were! We were introduced to Bill Callahan and Moriarty, and the evening was magical– easily, hands down, the best bar we have visited on the trip.
Closing Thoughts on Palermo
Rich and I love to eat so we loved Palermo. There were a lot of ways that Palermo felt like a sister city to Rich’s hometown of Philadelphia: a little dirty, a little gritty, but the food is banging and the people are alive. I could have easily spent at least two more days there taking it all in (and continuing to eat street food).
I leave you with some final pictures to prove that we did more than just eat! Ciao!
