Palermo - Historical Pearl

When thinking of the city of Palermo, would baroque fountains and palaces come to your mind? I definitely didn't think of that at all, until I visited the city myself. Also, I think you don't see enough positive reports or articles about Sicily either, except it is about the Mafia. 

After our first minutes at the Ballaro market (my previous post) I also had a false impression at first, but that changed quickly. When it comes to the architecture, Palermo is quiet a mix of various cultural epochs, because the city was ruled by Arabs, Normans and Spains, just to name a few, but all left their architectural traces. The city also has many examples for the Sicilian Baroque, a distinctive form of baroque, which arose after a huge earthquake, when cities had to be rebuilt (not Palermo).

So our way led us from the market, which is near the main station, along the Via Marqueda to the Piazza Pretoria, a square with a monumental fountain, originally built in Florence and later relocated to Palermo. The square is right next to the Quattro Canti (four angles), a crossing of two main streets with four concave facades of palaces decorated with colums, statues and fountains and which are a good showpiece for the sicilian baroque.

Palermo - The Ballarò Market

Since my father heard and saw so much about this market, he really wanted to experience it in person one time. Me otherwise, wouldn't have gone there, because I have visited so many italian markets before, that I didn't expect something different or special from this one. Apart from that, my boyfriend and I are no early birds, so maybe we also arrived a bit late. And furthermore there are all these people, who warn you, that this area is very dangerous and criminal und that's why you don't have the best feelings beforehand. I don't want to be too negative, because obviously many people are loving this market and for sure it has a special atmosphere, which some call the real Palermo, but for me it was just a normal italian market with more cons than pros. I mean, if you live in the city for a longer time and want to prepare some italian meals, then you can buy fresh and cheap food there and the especially the fish supply is enormous. Besides, the market doesn't offer something groundbreaking, if you want to buy other stuff. And we ourselfes did experience some not so good things there and felt a bit fooled. It started with some false change, we got from one seller and continued with a sandwich with grilled meat, which was sold to us for more than triple the price (7 Euros instead of 2, which we know, because we asked different other sellers) by an other man. When asking him, if this is the normal price, he got very agressive and wanted to get into an arguement with us. We then tried some octopus, which looked good, but was inedible, also for a relatively high price. I mean, these experiences are just personal and maybe we weren't lucky that day, but for me it was like a tourist trap. Of course we also experienced good things, because we met some really nice sellers and took some photos together. So I would suggest making your own picture and maybe you love it there.