Sicily - Italy Trip - Part I

Two weeks in sunny, beautiful Italy in October. Yes, its a long plane ride and perhaps some inconvenience and a hit to the pocket book but it was worth all of it and more.  Since this journey was two weeks and over 1,000 pictures I am dividing it into 3 posts. I will begin in Palermo Sicily and the tour of the island.  Part II will be the tour of southern Italy and Part III will be Rome. So keep watching this space for updates.

A pretty little park near our hotel boasted several of these banyan trees. This one was the largest.

 Pretty colors in the park

Pretty prickly pears in the market

The view from our hotel room window

 We only had rain one afternoon of the whole two weeks. We escaped it for awhile on the portico of this theater in Palermo which we were told is the largest in Italy.

We witnessed a rehearsal of a rather avant-garde production featuring blind-folded musicians and droning music.

Speaking of avant-garde, I rather like the red staircase picture I took in Riniscente (the Macy's of Italy) where we were still avoiding the rain.

                      Exterior of a 12th century cathedral in Monreale near Palermo.

 Interior is all mosaics and gold leaf

Mosaic panel - patchwork quilt inspiration

Courtyard view

Blogger is giving me fits today and I see that it is impossible to get this done in just three posts. So I will continue Sicily later. Watch for PART Ia very soon. Please let me now what you think in the comments section below