Party in Palermo

Party in Palermo!

I really wanted to go to Sicily for Eid this year.  As of last Sunday we still had no word for which days we were going to get for vacation.  I was on Kayak.com looking at flights as they disappeared one-by-one before my very eyes!  I couldn't risk not being able to go at all, so I took the chance and bought a ticket for a full week in Sicily. $1600.00, but I took some comfort in my discovery that I at least had a business class seat for my flight to Rome. My gamble paid off because the next afternoon we were told we were getting the full week off.

I had no real plans for Sicily, outside of finding my way to Licata to see the fabled "Blessed Virgin Mary of Cotturo" church that I found online one day while doing family research.

I found a decent looking B&B on Hostelworld.com and booked my first night there.  No plans beyond that.

I requested a driver come to pick me up because I couldn't deal with trying to find the hostel myself.  I arrived to find a very gruff, older, American guy named Ken, looking to go out to dinner with someone on the advice of the B&B owner, Claudio.  I obliged him and off we went for a great pasta and veal meal.

The B&B was located in the historical center of town in Vucciria market.  The area is full of abandoned apartments above the market shops.  On the weekend, the place comes alive.  My first impression was that I was at the biggest rave party of my life.  Thousand of people,  Unbelievable!  Music, alcohol, people; wow!

Ken and I went for a drink and Claudio met us at a bar.  Ken had partied too much with Claudio the night before and decided to get some sleep.  That left me & Claudio to walk around and hang out.
 
We walked along the harbor and sat for a bit and listened to a wedding band in the distance playing some Tom Petty. There were 2 men selling beer out of a cooler, so we bought one and sat down to have a chat.  The one guy was from Morocco or Tunisia, I forget which.  Later we were joined by his Italian wife and their rottweiler.  One of the two guys walked away for bout 20 minutes and returned with a bucket of five fish.  "Gift for you."  I guess not as many people are as friendly as were were and he wanted to show his gratitude.  We put the fish in a bag and took it home with us.  I have no clue what time we stumbled in, 3-4 am?  I don't know, but it was a great night.

Palermo was definitely not what I expected!

What a rave party!

Some weird sculpture on the docks.

A gift of fish.

No party would be complete without a little Hotel California!