Day  13 (Wednesday, June 18): Palermo & Monreale

The city center of Palermo contains fascinating streets and historic churches, including examples of Arab-Norman architecture, as well as the by-now familiar ‘Sicilian Baroque.’ We take a walking tour to see these, and in the middle of the city’s alleys we find a food market of typical Sicilian fare, including arancini and cannoli. But don’t spoil your appetite, because for lunch we drive out of Palermo to the mountain town of Monreale. There we enjoy a seafood lunch at I Giardino degli Aranci, which affords outstanding views over Palermo and the coastline. Then we visit the stunning cathedral, whose cloisters are perhaps the most spectacular in the world. Inside the cathedral, we pay our respects to St. Louis himself, whose heart is venerated in a shrine. [His body is stilled interred in Tunis, in northern Africa.] After our visit to Monreale, we return to Palermo to relax prior to our evening meal at Ristorante Sesto Canto.