Norman Palace

Travel day today, so that means not much done. Let's start with my arrival into Rome and then to Palermo. I'd taken an antigen test a few days ago, uncertain if I needed it to enter Italy. The IATA says passengers from Spain are exempt, but I wasn't sure if they actually meant residents. Turns out it was passengers, but I'm still glad I had the test as a peace of mind. The covid testing in Europe has been more invasive than the ones back home. Instead of swabbing the front of both nostrils, it's one swab up one nostril. Ah travel in covid times. At least they don't swirl too.

Landing in Palermo was an interesting process. Travellers to Sicily are subject to a PCR test, and I feel it's a bit of an honor system. After grabbing my bags, I exited to the arrivals zone, and read a sign about travellers from certain countries to check with the Covid info desk. No one is checking, I suppose I could've skipped it, but I didn't.

What ended up happening was a questionnaire that generated a test code that would send me on a trek with my backpack out of the airport to get tested. And it felt like a trek with 12 kg on my back and more with my day bag. The signage is almost very clear, but coupled with an evening arrival, I kept wondering how much farther I had to go, and noticing practically no one else headed that way.

On the bright side, the PCR was free, though it was another jab up the nose. The interesting thing is that results were ready in 10 minutes. Huh, go figure. Back the way I came and down to the train station for a ride to Palermo Central Station. It's a bit far, 50 minutes, and then another trek to the my hotel in the historic centre.

Suite Quaroni is beautiful small hotel (6 units in total) right off Via Maqueda. It does get noisy, but the AC drowns out the street noise that goes late into the night. Great location though for exploring the Old Town, so no complaints.

1st order of business was to find some pizza! Easy but not as I had a few places on my list. One was booked out, and another had a long line. I ended up back on the main street to randomly pick a place that looked good, oh and got some gelato as dessert. Hard to say no when you're stuffed, but it's right downstairs of where you're staying.

The streets were bustling, but it is a Friday night. I've definitely noticed less people here wearing masks, and more people. Italy has a green card system so if you want to sit down at a restaurant or go into a sight, you have to show proof of vaccination. For me, that's my vaccine card, so far so good.Read more