Palermo

This is the beginning of our Sicily trip. We arrived in Palermo, the biggest city, and will be here for a couple of days to get acclimated prior to our first bicycle trip with Siciclamo. Palermo has many historical sites that have a true mix of Greek, Roman and Arabic styles, depending upon what conquering hero was in running the city. The picture above is a church that has Byzantine mosiacs in its dome ceiling, then also has "Allah" engraved in many areas from when the church was a mosque. The next picture up is a lovely fountain with frolicking nude nymphs and gods and goddesses. It is surrounded by churches. The church-going members did not necessarily appreciate its hedonism and nicknamed it "the fountain of shame". Finally, the top picture is a 150 year old tree in the largest palazzo. It is located next to the old headquarters of the local Inquisition so it was witness to many bloody executions. Anne is giving us a sense of size of the tree by posing in the front. Caio!