How to Travel Palermo – What to Eat, See & Do in Sicily’s Capital

How to Travel Palermo – What to Eat, See & Do in Sicily’s Capital

Hey guys and welcome to the capital of Sicily, Palermo. Palermo was founded almost 3000 years ago and since then it’s been ruled by Romans, Arabs, Normans, Italians and Spanish, making it one of the most multicultural cities in Europe. It’s located right between the mountains and the sea, having access to some of the most amazing beaches, making it the perfect destination whether you’re looking for an urban destination or a seaside one. In Palermo you’ll find Baroque churches next to graffiti covered alleys, you’ll find these ancient palaces right next to a very chaotic street life, but it’s actually exactly that that gives Palermo its unforgettable soul. You okay? So we quickly unpacked and we came through La Majolica for some sandwiches, they specialize in sandwiches. Horia got a local beer and I got some white wine of course as always and so far the drinks have been delicious. The sandwiches are very affordable, they’re €4. The sandwiches are between €3.50 and €6. And look at the amount of stracciatella I have in my sandwich, this is mortadella stracciatella, and pistachio, of course. Classic. And what did you get? Mine is smoked mozzarella, salsiccia, which is Italian sausage, and something else which looks like cime di rapa, like the turnip tops. Yeah, it’s a proper good street food place. Well rated. Really well rated. And also we’ll both eat very well and drink well, high quality stuff and… That is the sound effects of Palermo. And we’ll both eat and drink really well for less than €10 a person. Since we’ve arrived in Sicily we haven’t seen such low prices. Also, side note, in this vlog we are focusing mainly on Palermo as a city, as a whole. Things to do in and around Palermo. But we will have a separate vlog dedicated to just the street food and the local food here in Palermo. Oh my god, look at that. The bread is not dense at all, so you mainly taste the filling, which is great. So after our delicious panino, we came to Teatro Massimo, which is the biggest opera house in Italy and the third largest opera house in Europe, after Paris and Vienna. This opera house has been part of several movie productions, including The White Lotus Season 2, which is my favorite season, where Jennifer Coolidge, aka Tanya, came to the opera house. Also it was featured in The Godfather, I think. Yeah, it was the third one. Yeah, it was the third one and it’s, I think, right at the closing scenes when Michael comes to the opera house to see his son’s debut on the stage. And there’s an attempted assassination of him on the stairs, the famous stairs here. They don’t manage to kill him, but they do manage to kill his daughter, Mary. Yeah, it was very dramatic. I remember being forced to watch The Godfather. So we are now in the foyer here in the theater. We paid €12 a person for a guided tour, that is the only option. They do the guides in English or Italian based on your language. And it takes about 30 to 40 minutes. It’s kind of quick, it doesn’t go too far into detail, so it’s easy to follow. And behind us we have the original model of the opera house, and apparently the stage is so big that they used to do shows with elephants and giraffes, I think. Elephants, giraffes, at some point in one of the productions they had six cars on the stage. I feel very under-dressed for this. They are going to take us to the royal boxes. Finally, finally we are making it. This is it. We are never leaving. We made it to the royal box finally. So the scene of The Godfather was filmed here. Yeah, in this room. And this is a private foyer for important people. So apparently this royal box here is one of the biggest in the world. It’s got 27 seats, I think, and normally it’s like 6 people. Parts of The Godfather movie was filmed here, and this room were just in a few seconds ago. This is how we’ll look at the end of this Sicily adventure. Sad but true. We are in the echo room, and apparently from right there in the middle, if you talk, only you can hear yourself amplified. I got a bit scared. Okay, wait, let me take my microphone with me. Is there a difference? Yeah, I know, it’s crazy, right? What the hell? This is crazy. And apparently the people at the other end of the room can’t understand what you say. I guess this is the first for everything, and this was the first time we’ve ever toured an opera house. Yes, it was short and sweet and very interesting. I think 30 to 40 minutes is more than plenty for this kind of stuff. And the whole process was very chill. They didn’t check our bags or anything. We didn’t even show our tickets. We could have been like random people from the street just going in the tour. So if you are random people from the street, you can definitely join the group. That was enough culture for now. Time for a bit of fun. I’m in need of some makeup, so we’re going to Sephora. Tiny success achieved. Yeah, not very interesting. I just got the wrong concealer from home that was almost empty, so I needed a new one. I hate it when that happens. Yeah, so I got the NARS one. They only have the mini, and then this is the one I use. And then I got the Haus Labs one, which I’ve never used, but apparently it’s very hyped. I love Haus Labs. Do you know who owns Haus Labs? Lady Gaga, of course. Bravo. I just saw that. So we just clocked the regular price for Aperol Sptitz in Central Palermo. A whopping €3 for one Aperol Spritz. I feel like this is such a good place to come if you’re young and don’t want to spend too much. It’s very vibey. We are now at Quatro Canti. This is one of the most famous intersections here in Palermo, where you have four identical facades on each one of the corners. So it’s perfectly, perfectly symmetrical, and each facade has three statues, the top level being the female patron saints of Palermo. The middle level is the four kings of Spain that have ever ruled over Sicily, and the lower level are the four seasons, which are also depicted as females. Yeah, I feel like seeing the theater and also the Quatro Canti, I feel like Palermo is a bit of a feminist. It’s very beautiful, honestly, it really is. But however, getting here from the theater, it’s a straight line. I have not seen much of Palermo yet, but I’m convinced that this is the most touristy street in the town. Yeah, it’s sensory overload, but that’s kind of the whole of Palermo as well. One interesting thing that actually we didn’t mention about the Teatro Massimo was that it was closed for about 25 years, from the mid-70s to the late 90s. And that was because it needed renovation, and they couldn’t really do them, because that was the primetime, historically speaking, of the mafia. And they were controlling everything, all the public contracts, all the public funding, and a lot of money was stolen. that was meant to go to the restoration of the theater of the opera house, and that actually never ended up happening until they kind of took down the mafia and part of their operation. So Laura was exploring the cathedral while I was getting the tickets. I was actually sitting down. No, just go with it. You were exploring, right? I was resting. You were totally exploring. Yes, from the same spot. But like visually, you were. Yeah. So there’s multiple tickets you can get here. I’ve never seen this many different layered tickets, but essentially what we got is we have access here, which you do anyway because it’s free, and the rooftops, and that’s it. So the rooftops are supposedly offering incredible views over Palermo, and they’re not too high. It’s only 120 stairs or something. Like it’s very easy to climb. So let’s go there. We’ll check out some of the best views of Palermo, and then we’ll be on our way because actually I know a really good wine bar there I really want to get to. Shall we? I had a bit too much prosciutto for that door. This is gorgeous. It is gorgeous. And apparently this is only the second level. We have a level that’s higher up, I think. Yeah. But this is really beautiful. So this is the main cathedral here in Palermo. It’s part of the same UNESCO World Heritage Site as the cathedral in Mon reale, which we might see tomorrow, and the one in Cefalu, which we’ll probably see in a few days. And it’s in the same category because they all have something in common, which is their Norman and Arab mix of influences. Oh, wow. Just checked out the views behind me. Just realized that was there. Very beautiful. Shall we go higher? Yeah. Slightly risky situation. Amazing views of Palermo from up top here. Splendid. I would say it’s definitely worth paying €7 a person and spending about 7 minutes a person. Yeah. You get really, really good views of the city. And you see the seaside, you see the mountains. Yeah. Really nice. Definitely worth it. And it’s not like one of those lengthy museum visits. That just never ends. Yeah. We came back to where Quattro Canti was and right next door, sort of, you have Fontana Pretoria right here behind us. But as everything else in Italy, it’s being repaired and closed down and it’s not functioning at the moment. But it does look really beautiful. So this huge fountain here was built in the 1500s in Toscana in Florence and was completely disassembled in about 600 pieces and shipped overseas and rebuilt here. The cool part is that it was placed in between three churches and it has a lot of nudity. Like, there’s many statues and a lot of them are nude. And apparently it’s called Fontana della Vergogna locally, which is like the fountain of shame. And legend has it that the nuns from these churches used to walk around here and cover their eyes in modesty so that obviously they don’t see the nudity. And right around it, behind, there’s this beautiful palazzo here, which has a coffee shop right on the first floor with some tables and chairs on those balconies. And I kind of wanted to go and sit down there and enjoy a coffee or a drink or whatever. But seeing as this is actually not happening, this fountain. Yeah, it’s not functioning. And there’s scaffolding there behind us. I think there’s a different wine bar that has our name on it, so let’s go there right now. We arrived at OJDÅ, a Swedish wine bar in the center of Palermo in the Old Town. But we’re having local wine, not Swedish wine. Some local white Sicilian wine for us. Cheers. This is actually one of the busiest spots we’ve seen so far in this part of Palermo. Yeah, it’s completely full and everyone hangs around waiting for a table. It’s a cool city. I think Palermo is cool. Yeah, it is. Very young. However, we’ve kind of experienced traffic in Sicily for a few weeks now. And it is chaotic, but Palermo is at a new level. It was so rough and tough having to park the car. I thought, honestly, if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere with the way people drive here. No rules apply. The only rule is if you want to go somewhere, you do it. And just hope that people will not hit you in the process. And think later. Exactly. Just confidence is key. No matter what you do, just do it with confidence. However, I don’t feel that people get annoyed in traffic. Everyone is super chaotic and they’re very calm. It’s a very organized chaos. Yes, exactly. Sort of like Bali. Yeah, I guess. Look how lively Palermo is in the evening. Yeah, and this is just a side street. It’s not the main area. I feel like at 10pm the town is only slowly coming to life. Yeah. Good morning guys, today we are in Mondello Beach. This is the best and most well known beach in Palermo. We are in the northern neighborhood of Mondello which is the most exclusivist, nicest, most expensive spot in Palermo. Now normally during summer this spot to be packed as you can see behind us. It’s quite empty. There’s not that many people also. I would say at least half the beach is public beach. So there’s a lot of locals enjoying the beach because these places are not that affordable so I completely understand why as a local you would go to the public beach. So far impressions, the water is so calm and shallow. I honestly wouldn’t mind taking a dip but I think it’s too cold for me. Beautiful backdrop of mountains. It looks again like Hawaii. Yeah and the villas here are stunning. So Mondello Beach is about one kilometer long give or take so it’s about 20 minutes end to end walk. The sunbeds were €28 for both of us. Yes, sunbeds €28 before the 1st of July. Then it goes to €33 for two people and you get the umbrellas obviously with it. But it’s enclosed, it’s safe, it’s nice. It’s clean. But however I will say that I think the vibes are more in the public area because people are playing volleyball, football, a lot more younger demographic I would say. So definitely a really cool spot to check out. If you are in Palermo you have to, I would say at least half a day reserve to come to Mondello Beach. I went to explore a bit around. There is a bar area. You can order drinks, you can sit down and have coffees and drinks and all that stuff. One other thing is the fact that you have these enclosed spaces with the beach clubs and then you have the public beach. But at the front of the beach club you have this sort of fence and between that and the actual water there is like 3-4 meters. Just enough for one person to be there and that is still considered part of the public beach. So even if you are not staying in the actual beach club you can stay right in front of it between it and the water. And that is the most craved spot and locals come there early in the morning to secure those spots. Especially in summer I was reading that as early as 7 in the morning those are already all taken. It is about 90 minutes later I went in the water a couple of times. The water is absolutely gorgeous. Loads of people in the water. The water is super clear. Honestly I can see how you can spend the whole day here. Or you know what, better yet a whole summer honestly. It is a beautiful beach and it has everything you would ever need. Just everything like the landscape around, the amenities. You have actually got quite a few good cafes and restaurants around. Toilets are clean at this establishment. There we go. We are going to sort of wrap up now. Normally again we would spend more time here. We absolutely love being at the beach. But we do have quite a few other things that we want to do today and if we spend more time here we are not going to have time for that. You have salt on your neck. Thank you. I brought my own from home. I have some from the salt pans in Marsala. Yes. Ok I am going to go shower first then. I don’t want to carry the salt with me all day. Why not, it’s a souvenir. I would make this a top priority in any stay in Palermo. If you are here between the months of let’s say mid April and mid October those six months. Even if you don’t get in the water just come here see the vibes. It is absolutely gorgeous now. I have to say we have been told that in full season you have got to pre-book the beds here. You can make prenotazione and get the beds in time. We have left Mondello Beach. We are now on our way back to the car and then driving away to discover more places. But first we are going to stop just by the beach. There is this one street cart sort of place where they sell really really good sandwiches. So let’s go get some food. We got this tuna sandwich with actual tuna filet. Looks really nice. €7, just off the side of the road. La Pina. Pietro apparently the guy’s name is, the owner. What a superstar. Fabulous simple. You can tell that this is the expensive tuna the one that comes in a jar. It was in a jar. Was in a jar yeah. Oh okay. Just really simple, tomato, some lettuce and lemon zest and the actual tuna. It’s amazing. We are just walking down the street admiring these palazzos on the side of the road. I can only assume how much this costs because this is the most expensive area of Palermo or one of the most expensive ones. Of course makes sense. It is beautiful but imagine living here in high season. Not ideal in that sense but still. With this view. I would rather live here in high season than in crowded London in high season. London always has high season. Yeah. We are right here in front of this incredible building. And this is a restaurant now. And I think you can actually get some sun beds too. Really interesting. The water is absolutely pristine here. So so crystal clear. Yeah.
Turquoise waters. Yeah. So beautiful. I mean this whole neighborhood is just incredible. And to think that maybe like what 200 years ago this was a malaria infested swamp. Swamp? Swamp. And they drained it and they built this incredible neighborhood. So we actually drove here today because we are driving farther away. But normally if you are staying in Palermo you can easily be here in less than 20 minutes with a taxi. There is all sorts of public transportation as well. Exactly. The Open Art Tour. Sure. Why not. We are in one of the strangest places we’ve ever been to in Italy. We are in a tiny tiny hamlet. The tinyest possible village about 40-45 minutes away from Palermo called Borgo Parrini. Apparently there is about 20 to 30 residents here. No one knows. It looks like. It’s hard to count. It looks like there are more houses than residents. And this place looks super unique. But in a good way. It’s very beautiful. Apparently in the early 2000s this place was almost abandoned and residents wanted to revive it. So they completely redone most of the facades of all the buildings in very much like a Gaudí style. It’s called the tiny Barcelona. And honestly it does look very unique and very pretty. Very Instagrammable. There is a cafe and I think there is one restaurant and that’s it. And quite a few tourists. Definitely more than 20 or 30 tourists. The road to the hamlet was a bit dirty. So if you see some garbage on the side of the road don’t get discouraged because the hamlet is beautiful. It was one of the dirtiest roads we’ve ever been on in Italy. It reminds me a bit of the plot of Midsommar. Where they go to that beautiful Swedish village and then they never make it out. So guys if you don’t hear back from us. Well I guess that means you would not be able to see this video that we will have edited in the future. I guess my point is moot. You can’t not take photos everywhere here honestly. Rarely ever have I been given to see such a lesson in making something out of not much. It was a forgotten hamlet village. I’m talking about 20 houses and somehow now it looks really pretty and tourists come here. In just like what 20 years of work. Yeah and I don’t think it was too expensive to redo it because it was just beautiful painting. And tiles and mosaics. People could learn from this honestly. They could. And not just in Italy. Just everywhere. Sadly we didn’t have time to sit down for coffee. Our restaurant closes in one hour. And this is a beautiful spot on the hill with great views of the valley around. So let’s go get there very quickly. As we all know not everything goes to plan and the restaurant that we wanted to get to was closed even though it was advertised as open. So we climbed a big mountain for about. By car. By car. For about 20 minutes I think. Yeah.
Total. And yeah we got there and it was closed. Yeah sadly. However we will leave the name in the description because it has incredible views and if you do happen to be in the area and you want to give them a call and get a table and make sure that it’s open. We now came to our final destination of the day. This was always going to be the final destination. We are in the small town of Monreale less than half an hour away from Palermo. This is an incredibly well known town for its huge Duomo basically. That is the main landmark of the town and the reason why so many tourists come here. It also has beautiful views. Yes. And stunning architecture. So we will go get to all of these points today. But first we really want to eat. It’s 5pm. It’s a very overdue lunch. All we had today literally all we had today was that tuna sandwich that we split. Which I had like bite of. Parking here is absolutely crazy. Yes also if you ever come to Monreale always look on the map for Duomo parcheggio and that’s where you’ll go and you’ll pay €3 an hour and you will be happy and thanking your lucky stars for knowing this because I’m not exaggerating. This is the town where I’ve struggled the most to find a parking spot or a parking lot or anything. So please just listen to my advice. Just go straight there. Luckily we found a restaurant that is open at 5pm even though that’s not usual for Italy. This is the highest rated restaurant in town and it mainly serves pizza. So we got both one pizza each and probably we’ll eat the leftover a little bit later. So the pizza came. It just looks decadent. Delish. So we got Laura’s which is Trevigiana with. blue cheese, speck, walnuts and radicchio. Oh and the radicchio, yes. And it doesn’t have a tomato base, neither does this one actually. This is pistachio pesto with a burrata and prosciutto crudo. Well given that it’s our only meal for the day. The courtyard is very beautiful here. It looks like we are in a very fancy part of Rome or something. Or Cannes. Oh yes. Something like that. And the service is amazing. It’s just us though. It’s fantastic. Who eats at this hour? Nobody eats at this hour. I know you can’t take me seriously because I have this in my hand. But right now we are in front of Cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuova, the big duomo of Moreale. Which is like we said one of the main reasons why people ever come here. But by the time we had this, this closed. Which is fine. The very impressive part of it is actually the interior for once. Normally it’s the facade that’s really impressive but this one time it was the interior. But alas here we are. This was built about 900 years ago by the Sicilian king William II. And it’s a very famous architectural masterpiece of the medieval time. It’s probably one of the most so. And it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So next time we’re here, we’ll film the interior. Until then, enjoy this photo. That’s pretty much it. Not far away here. Actually really close by. There’s one other cool thing that we can see and I think that’s still open so let’s move on there quickly. We arrived at the Benedictine Cloisters right next to the duomo here in Moreale. And it is such a beautiful site. This is part of the same UNESCO World Heritage Site as the duomo. The one in Palermo and the one in Cefalu. And it’s this amazing blend of Norman and Arab architectural styles. You can see here these beautiful columns on the side of Laura. They have these golden mosaics on top, the Arab influence. And there are 228 double columns in this site which makes this square here absolutely massive. Look how big this is. We’ve been to a few different of these cloisters over the last year or two. And this is by far the biggest, the most impressive and the most beautiful. And the most expensive. Because we actually ended up paying €8 per person to be here. The duomo is €10 and the cloisters is €8. So yeah, quite pricey. Some pizza to eat at the cloisters. We’re not allowed. Yeah, the ticket person, whatever. Said we’re not allowed to eat here. But this is just take away Okay, off to the panoramic viewpoint. And then back home. Because tomorrow we have a very long day with a lot of things to do and a lot of places to see. How about these views over here. Oh my god, you can see the whole of Palermo. This is right here at the top of Monrele. It’s actually really easy to get to this viewpoint. It’s 20 seconds away from where we had our pizza. Yeah. This is incredible. The mountains are very impressive. The city is actually really close. It seems like it’s very close although it’s like half an hour away. You have the mountains, the sea, Palermo. The pizza. The pizza. The Laura. This is where today ends. Tomorrow we’ll be waking up right there in the middle of that concrete jungle. Hopefully not too early. Welcome to a Saturday morning here in Palermo. We’re actually really excited for today. We’ve sort of planned our trip here around being in Palermo at the weekend because it’s supposed to be a unique atmosphere and a lot of fun. We’ve started the day by walking to Piazza Marina, which is where they hold the best and the biggest flea market in Palermo every weekend on Saturdays and Sundays only. This is located in the Kalsa district, which is the old headquarters of the Arab ruling in Sicily in Palermo. Change of plans, sadly. There was no flea market even though it’s supposed to happen on the weekends. Yeah.
There was just basically a stall and that was it. But the good part is that right near the flea market is this beautiful, beautiful park with enormous ficus trees and with turtles as well. So it’s very pleasant to walk through. It’s called Giardini Garibaldi and it was set up right at the time of the unification of Italy in the 1860s. And that tree and a few others around here were actually planted over 160 years ago. And they’re some of the biggest of their kind in the world. The garden is beautiful, it’s quiet. So actually in the Giardini Garibaldi where we were just in a second ago, one of the biggest mafia orchestrated assassinations in the history of Palermo took place there. So in 1909, the chief of police of New York was assassinated there and it was this huge scandal. It was this big statement made by the mafia. And what followed after that was tens of years of mafia rule over this area, over Sicily. Everybody had to pay this pizzo which is sort of like a protection tax. Since then, the mafia has been sort of eliminated slowly, not fully obviously. And actually two of the biggest heroes in that fight are right there behind us. You can see above Laura on that mural, those are Falcone and Borsellino. Two judges who were assassinated in 1992, months apart from each other in bombings. And they were basically the leaders of the movement against the mafia. There were finally two people, two judges who were willing to stand up to the mafia. They’ve named streets after them, they’ve obviously given them that mural. The airport in Palermo is called Falcone Borsellino. We’ll go to the old town right now and we’ll see all these businesses that make a point in showcasing the fact that they’re not paying this pizzo, this protection tax towards the mafia. And as a general rule of thumb for tourists, it’s good advice that if you come to Palermo, seek these businesses in the old town and try and support those that are not supporting the mafia. We are now taking a stroll along the port of Palermo. This is one of the biggest and most important ports in the Mediterranean Sea. And it’s actually very beautiful, very taken care of, very clean. It’s a really nice stroll. It’s sort of semi-circular and there’s cafes and bars all around. Yeah, it’s a very nice area. It does offer zero percent shade, however. So if you’re coming here in the middle of summer, just wear a hat or something, I don’t know. It gets really hot. Seeing as we do not take advantage of the flea market today, we still have a couple of shops that we want to see. We’re still sort of in the hipster-y area, the cool area. So let’s go see if we can find them. And yeah, maybe we’ll get a bit of food after that. I am hungry. There is literally no shortage of amazing places to eat in central Palermo. So seeing that we’re in Sicily for quite some time, I wanted to have a wee break from traditional Italian dishes. And we came to this cool restaurant, cool spot. And I had some brunch. I had scrambled eggs with some very, very good smoked salmon. It was wild salmon. That was really good. It was the best smoked salmon I’ve ever had. Really cool vibe, Horia I got a cold brew. That’s kind of the perks of coming to the bigger towns in Italy. You can still find really high quality food, but not necessarily just traditional. So if you like traditional food, sure, there’s loads of that. But also you can find different kinds of food, but still very, very good quality. So that was a great find. If you’re around here, definitely give that place a go. Super, super good service. I didn’t have any food because I’m saving my space for something more traditional. I will stick to the tradition for now. And right around the corner here, we have a really cool espresso bar. So let’s go in. It’s really good. It’s like a sweeter cream than you would find in a canonlo. And a lot more dense, more cheesy, more ricotta. It’s not as fluffy, but it’s delicious, honestly. So good. We just left the legendary Bar del Corso, an espresso bar here in Palermo. That was opened in 1950. I didn’t catch the owner’s name, the guy who makes the coffee as well. But his dad opened it in 1950. And he’s been there literally since he was a child. Palermo e Palermo. But yeah, so he’s been there since he was a child. And he’s been making coffees and delicious pastries all his life. Really delicious, super affordable. €2.40 for a coffee and a pastry. We’re actually going to a really well-rated cafe, bar, restaurant. I’m actually quite hungry. I haven’t had basically any food today other than a taste of Laura’s eggs and salmon earlier. You had the– Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah. But does that count? Yes. Dammit. We sat down at Ammutta Muddica in the middle of this street full of souvenir shops. And this place has a 5 out of 5 rating, hundreds of reviews, meant to be making amazing sandwiches and a few other things. But we’re going to– oh, pizza as well. But we’re getting a sandwich here. I will mainly eat it. I’ll get there a signature that has everything and possibly even more than everything in it. All the meats under the sun. All the meats, all the cheeses, everything. The beer is so affordable. It’s between €1 and €3. No, not even. €2.50 is the most expensive one. Crazy. So quick little bite, quick little beer, and we are off to do a bit more culture. Fine. But this place is very modest. There’s a lot of locals here. So it’s very unpretentious. Also, as a segue, if you come to Palermo and cross the pedestrian area, do not expect for the vehicles to stop. Oh, no. So be careful where you do that. I feel like it’s the same principle as the actual traffic. You just go, and somehow things will work out. So we’re struggling a little bit because we just realized that aside of the amazing sandwiches, they have really, really amazing looking pasta as well. And super affordable. Super affordable. Like Pasta alla Normal, which is traditional to Sicily. Not here, but the opposite coast in Catania. €6 for a portion of pasta. €8 for carbonara. €10 euros for the one with swordfish and aubergine. Breakfast of champions. We have two problems. One, the sandwich is too hot, and two, the sandwich is too big. Now, it’s not necessarily big size-wise. It’s just big on the inside. So we have porchetta salsiccia which is sausage, hamburgher chicken breast and spici salami. caramelised onion and emmentaler cheese. So, a bit on thne lighter side today. So yeah, we’re taking it easy today, just a simple salad. We’re going vegan as well. Yeah, there’s no signs of vegetables there. There is. Of course, there is onion. It’s caramelized.
I do appologise. Of course. And an arancina. That’s my dessert. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, at least there’s a lot of protein. I’m trying to be rational and measured. This may have been the best bite of a sandwich I’ve ever had in my life. I don’t understand it. This is incredible. This is so good. This is their arancina with ragu, and it has some peas inside as well. I think it has saffron or something. It looks like it does. It’s warm. It’s not too hot. Absolutely flavorful and delicious. I have to say, so far, the food in Palermo has been the best we’ve had in Sicily. I mean, it makes sense. I get why. There’s a lot of variety. We’ve had amazing experiences along the way in Sicily getting to Palermo. Here and there, some of them were fantastic. But here, consistently, everything has been incredible. And I don’t even want to think what the food vlog tomorrow will have in store for us because I’ve been saving some of the best spots for tomorrow. It’s very likely that by the end of tomorrow, I will look like one of those cherubs. Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. You’ll morph into a cherub. I think I’ll probably get a job here in the cathedral. Yeah, just pose. Every now and then, in one of the Italian cities that we go to, we find this gem that we really love. And honestly, this place, amazing staff. So nice, so attentive, so kind. Food, I would rate it an 11 out of 10. Easy. Prices, I would rate it 12 out of 10. Think of it this way. I had 2 small beers. Laura had a glass of wine. Which was really good. One arancina. One huge, huge sandwich with enormous amount of meat. In central Palermo. And everything was €14. Yeah. There were a couple of girls next to us. They had each a portion of pasta, really nice pasta. Massive portions. And they had a glass of wine each. And they each paid less than €10 per person. So this is a place where, especially as a young person, you can come here and have an amazing meal for not too much money. And one more thing, everywhere you go, it’s, I wouldn’t say easy, but it’s easier to find a good restaurant where you can have a good meal for like €40 per person. That’s something everyone can do that. But finding one of these places, it’s special. It’s special. Okay. I said time for culture. I’m going to hold my end of the bargain. And we are on our way sort of home, but we’ll stop along the way at Palazzo Normanni, which is the Norman Castle Palace set up over 1000 years ago here in Palermo. Their main building, their biggest building, their most important building. Let’s go. Laura just said it very well. Palermo, this part of the center, the old town, is the most random place on earth. You can find everything and anything. I don’t think there’s a single thing that if we saw right now on the side of the road we’d be like, “What is this doing here?” Like we’d be like, “Okay, cool.” Yeah, no, like every second you get surprised by something. Like we saw a luggage that was half open and dumped on the side of the road, then you see some trash, then you see the most beautifully designed craft shop or like a nice bar, and then you see this really, really old decrypted car, and then you see a beautiful new car, then you see a fridge in the middle of the road dumped somewhere. Really interesting, I’m fascinated by this town. Behind Laura now you can see the statue of Santa Rosalia, the patron saint of Palermo. And this float here you see in front of the cathedral is here in preparation for the Festa di Santa Rosalia, which is the biggest holiday here in Palermo. Imagine people joining in, whether they’re tourists or locals and parties and food and drinks and everywhere on the streets. So basically what happens here on a weekend, but more, and it’s not necessarily a weekend. So Santa Rosalia played a massive part in protecting the town of Palermo and rescuing it from the plague in the 17th century. And she’s here protecting us as well with her shade. I’m just listening to the acoustic version of the Laschiatemi Cantare. I love how spontaneous everything is here. It’s really cool to hang out here. We came to Palazzo Normanni, this is the biggest palace castle here in Palermo. We walked into Capella Palatina. This is a 12th century chapel and it has some of the most amazing and the most intricate mosaics. It’s very golden, very opulent. It’s a lot of gold innit? But I really like the ceiling. The ceiling is my favorite feature. It’s not that golden. And the silly lions. Yeah, the lions are very silly. They’re like, “Rarr!” They made a lion and then they gave it a human face. We just left the chapel and we’re going upstairs to the royal apartments. So this is the oldest royal residency in Europe and it was built by Arab emirs in the 9th century. Yeah, at the time Palermo was the capital of the emirate of Sicily. So this ceiling is millennial sage. That’s what I heard on TikTok, I don’t know. What are they doing? Singing. And playing instruments. She’s playing the triangle. Yeah. It’s a very understated instrument. Is he playing the cymbals? All right, that was short and sweet. We could have spent a lot more time there, but we did have a look through the royal apartments. Had a look at the Palatine Chapel. Okay, so we are now going home. We are walking straight through Porta Nuova. This is one of the ancient gates into Palermo. Get changed and then we’re going out for aperitivo, perhaps dinner. Cheers. Okay, we came to Dal barone, one of the coolest, coolest spots here in Old Town Palermo. We’re having an aperitivo. I’m having their actual aperitivo spritz that they make. Couldn’t tell you exactly what’s in it. It’s their own recipe. Laura’s having a very artisanal rosé that looks very red almost. So we are kind of sitting on the side of the road on the curb here. We’ve got a tiny, tiny table. It’s a very popular spot. We called it advanced for a reservation, and even so, we still had to wait. We hope you enjoyed our video in Palermo and you got some inspiration if you want to travel here. And don’t forget to like this video and subscribe to our channel. And we’ll definitely see you in the next one.

Join us as we explore Palermo, Sicily – from tasting incredible local cuisine and street food to visiting iconic landmarks like Teatro Massimo, Quattro Canti, Castello dei Normanni, and the breathtaking mosaics of Monreale.

We sip Sicilian wines in cozy bars, enjoy seaside vibes at Mondello Beach, wander the colorful village of Borgo Parrini, and uncover the hidden gems that make Palermo unforgettable.

If you’re planning a trip to Sicily, this vlog is packed with travel inspiration, foodie finds, history, and authentic Sicilian experiences.

🌍 Highlights in this video:
Palermo’s must-see landmarks
Best street food & wine spots
Mondello Beach & Borgo Parrini
Monreale
Authentic Sicilian charm

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
00:46 About Palermo
01:41 Amazing Sandwiches in Palermo
03:33 Teatro Massimo
09:14 Quattro Canti
11:06 Cathedral of Palermo
16:22 Very Cool Wine Bar in Palermo
18:09 Romantic Dinner in Palermo
19:39 Mondello Beach
26:36 Borgo Parrini
30:29 Amazing Pizza in Monreale
33:42 Exploring Monreale
39:29 Giardino Garibaldi in Palermo
40:39 Porto Palermo
43:40 Brunch Time
46:50 Amazing Local Food in Palermo
55:54 Palazzo dei Normani
58:37 Best Wine Bar in Palermo
59:55 La Vucciria