Palermo cathedral and palace

Palermo is surprisingly well preserved - with numerous Norman Churches and very old buildings still around. This is really surprising since Palermo (and Messina) were heavily bombed during WW2. This first bank of photos is from the Palermo Cathedral (1185 AD) - note, you can enter the cathedral for free! We purchased access to the Bishops' Rooms, the Archiepiscopal Palace, the Diocesan Museum, the Royal Tombs, the Crypt, the Apses, the Treasury and the Underground - I think it was around 13 euro each. We spent about 2.5 hours combined at the sites.

The Diocesan museum was - unsurprisingly - full of religious art and the Bishops rooms were interesting to walk through. Most of the art was from the early 1000s and the majority by unknown artists.

We stopped for a quick arancini and beer at a little place just outside the porta nova - vegan and vegetarian options - Sfrigola Palermo. Google maps says it is a deli, which I guess for Palermo, it may count as one. After lunch, we went to the palace - unfortunately, since it was during the week, we couldn’t see the royal apartments. So, do ask when purchasing the ticket. We didn’t purchase the ‘meta experience’ - more because it sounded dumb, but it was an art installation. Oddly, they don’t call it that on all the banners.

The Palatine chapel was absolutely gorgeous, but under construction. The royal gardens were fine - rather small, my guess is the giant parking lots took up a good chunk of them.