Super Sicily
Jan Migenda
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In 2017, my university in Germany did a study tour to Sicily ... I will give you lots of history and photos from this intercultural place!
Blog posts
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Introduction: A Short History of Sicily
Welcome to my new blog! Great to see you back here after following me through Greece! In order to understand the trip through Sicily, I thought it would be helpful to give you a short history of Sicily (especially Palermo) as an introduction because so much happened...
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Multicultural Palermo
After the historical introduction, let's get started with the real tour! Our first day in Palermo started out with the Norman Duke's Palace which united cubic elements with oriental ornaments. In a similar fashion, the smaller building La Cuba (a leisure residence)...
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Palermo Cathedral
One of the most surprising views in the streets of Palermo were the many palm trees along the way. You can even eat the fruits when they are brown! The Arab-Norman cathedral has foundations from the 6th century and has been a mosque and a library before, but the main...
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Palermo Monuments
Walking through Palermo to the beach, we saw this small medieval gate; near it, the remains of a mosque and a cemetery were in the soil. A small place with these trees made us relax for a bit, and the light shining through the branches was beautiful! The city park...
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Palermo's Churches
Coming from the mighty cathedral, the castles, palaces and parks of Palermo, we continued with some interesting churches. You just can't evade churches in Italy! ;) The Arab-Norman church San Cataldo from the 12th century is one of the last built in Arab-Norman style...
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Palermo Outside
The last interior motive from the churches at Palermo was this dog with a candle guiding us. And out we went into the shining blue sky! Here you can see the two churches La Martorana and San Cataldo next to each other in broad daylight. They are not really big, yet...
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Palermo Museum: Introduction
The entrance to the museum was like a green courtyard with palm trees and a fountain. The eagle statue on the wall represents the city and its power. Okay everybody, before my blog starts getting too heavy, let's start off with some turtles that we found in a fountain...
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Palermo Archeological Museum: Wild Parties and Great Heroes
After the sign explaining the ancient world of gods, this post will show you some actual archeological pieces such as these colourful vases. This one shows a wild party in process with a man bringing wine, a woman playing the aulos (double flute), another man drinking...
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Inside the Cathedral + Santa Caterina
Approaching a gate of the cathedral, we could see the flowery motives from Arab tradition mixed with the geometric elements of European style. Inside the cathedral, we looked at the graves of Roger II., his daughter Constance of Sicily, married to Heinrich IV., and...
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Languages and Places
The Cappella Palatina was decorated with lots of gold in Byzantine style with Christ as the ruler over everything (pantokrator). The meeting of Latin, Greek and Arabic on this inscription is unique! After seeing the chapel, we visited some catacombs with 8,000 mummies...
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Castles and Nature
Near the sea lies Castellammare, an old castle with defensive structures; on the site, there are also remains of a mosque and a Muslim cemetery. A short glance at the port showed us the local lifestyle: Lots of boats, wherever you looked! Palazzo Chiaramonte was...
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Monreale
The next day, we saw world-famous Monreale. The cathedral was built in the years leading up to 1185, and again you can see a mixture of styles. It counts as one of the most powerful iconic buildings in sicily ... wait until you see the inside! The courtyard inside was...
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Monreale Cathedral
Around Monreale, we could see the craggy hills while in the city, palm trees were frequent. The mighty bronze gate of the cathedral shows Biblical scenes and is decorated with some round and pointy arches and one roof-like arch ... very differentiated! Inside the...
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Mondello Beach
In the afternoon, we said goodbye to Monreale and went to Mondello Beach by bus. The club house looked kind of inviting, but we went to the beach first! Look at the colourful houses near the lagoon! In a bit, we would have sunset. After that, we had dinner (mostly...
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Castellammare del Golfo
The next day, we travelled by bus to the west of Sicily to see Castellammare del Golfo. During the trip, we saw green pastures and white mountains under a blue sky ... a picturesque scene! Almost arriving, we could oversee the whole lagoon where we would be later on! ...
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Erice
Our next trip by bus lead us through high and arid mountains. In the valley, white houses were crammed together ... The mall gave us a nice perspective with the clear sky in the background! Having arrived at the sea, two rows of palm trees gave me the opportunity of...
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Erice Castle
The history of Erice includes the Phoenician Hamilcar (father of Hannibal), the Trojan hero Aeneas whose heirs should found Rome later on, a temple to the oriental goddess Astarte and a later one to the goddess of love Venus. However, the castle is the main attraction...
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Erice Castle 2
The ascension to the castle was difficult as it was very steep and they had used winding paths to hinder enemies in reachign the castle. Meanwhile, the main tower throned over us. Looking down the slopes, you could see some monasteries and watchtowers (?). The view...
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Segesta
Segesta is an archaic settlement that became important in classical antiquity. Verres was in office here and spoiled the town of many artworks, as Cicero found out. The Temple to Hera (Zeus' wife) remains as one of the most important and massive structures in the area....
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Solunt
Solunt was our next stop, a former Phoenician-Greek city: The place was up high, and a small peninsula with a cross made for a nice shot. The ancient city ruins comprised apartments and a cistern (see below). The cistern was huge, which was necessary for a town in...
