Palermo Part 2 – Ballaro Market

Today’s goal was to find the famous Ballaro Market. On the way there we saw the Quattro Canti, which is where the four quarters of the old city meet. There is a piazza and the four corners each have wonderful carved fronts. Here are two of them.

We stumbled upon this next church and it is a real beauty.

This church is an accumulation of many different influences, including Norman, Arab, Byzantine, and Baroque it is very cool inside.

Maybe this is the Norman part. Joan probably knows.

Then it was onto the market! Here are some sights along the way – there is beauty everywhere you look. Perhaps not the kind of beauty you were expecting, but a timeless beauty that has survived poverty, war, politics, and time.

The Ballaro Market is bustling and full of sights, sounds and smells! We sat down for a beer at one of the tables and ended up having a plate of delicious bruschetta. When that was my only choice, the lady looked at me questioningly and I said, non mangere pesce. Which I hope means I don’t eat fish. She gave me a sympathetic smile and a nod. I am definitely in the wrong place to not like fish!

So many yummy looking things (if you like fish), but all we had were two beers and some bruschetta – which were very tasty.

We decided to try a few more street food dishes (and more wine of course) – not totally adventurous, but a few more things.

After a much needed siesta, we headed out with Joan and Mike to find a roof top bar. Unfortunately the bar didn’t open until 6, so we had to find another bar to bide our time. On the way, we saw a bride and groom and scooped a few pictures.

We found a place to have a charcuterie board and some wine, and as Joan went ahead to get the men to come back to this perfect place, I saw a guy at the next table, holding a Nikon camera. We bonded over photography and I said, I got the bride! And he said, show me! So we shared photos (he had some from the same wedding in the church as it happened). He and his wife are from the south of England, near Brighton, and we had an wonderful conversation about photography, retirement and travel.

We also had cheese . . .

That is candied pumpkin by the way – actually very tasty.

Unfortunately, the roof top bar that we were aiming for had a private party booked, and the second one we found had the same problem. The only solution was this:

The most perfect cocktail. Everything after that is a blur.

See you tomorrow . . .