Santa Caterina Palermo

I only spent two days in Palermo, but for my feeling it was like I was there for a week. At least I tried to squeeze one week of sightseeing into two days that I had at hand. I fell in love with the city as soon as the taxi driver dropped me off. I didn't like it that much before as I had a couple of nearly death experiences on the way which my taxi driver didn't consider like that at all. It was a normal drive for him while I was praying for the ride to finally stop. Anyway, all ended well for me and he dropped me off in the old town. I was on the *Via Vittorio Emanuele* only 5 minutes walk from my hotel. When I saw the street I knew I will love the city. First of all, I ordered un cappuccino, un cornetto, and l'acqua which used about all the words that I know in Italian. Just kidding, I can get around quite well, but I should still start learning more as I love Italian! I took a moment and enjoyed the buzz of the ancient city before starting my day. There was a lot on my itinerary, so I had to time to lose. Palermo is well known for its beautiful churches where you can see the influence of various cultures. You don't need to be religious to visit them as I'm convinced that their architecture will leave everyone in awe. Let's start with **Santa Caterina** where you will find the most amazing church, a monastery and a beautiful garden with a bakery. You can reach the garden for free from the square, but for the rest of the tour you will have to purchase a ticket.  ---- You will get the best view of the garden from the monastery, so I do recommend to take your time and visit the entire site. You can walk around pretty much everywhere, but the rooms of monastery are closed, so you can't enter that part. I'm not sure why as no nuns live there anymore, but even without this part be ready to spend a couple of hours in the complex. It was considered one of the most important monasteries in Palermo as nuns were coming from wealthy and noble families. This was new to me as I thought that in the past the most important task of a noble woman was to find a husband and continue the line.  ----- I couldn't get any pastry as all of them were full of cream which would make me sick, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the garden. There were benches around the garden and all of them were full of people enjoying their treats. I took another l'acqua instead.  ---- The exterior of the church gives that typical Italian flair. If you visited some churches in Italy then you know that the simple exterior doesn't say anything about its interior which is usually much more grand than you would expect. You will find the information about Santa Caterina on the poster in front of the church. There are not many signs inside. The church was built in *the 16th century* which makes it kind of young 😊  ---- On the same square you will find two more churches: *Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio* and *Di San Cataldo*. I didn't visit these two as I didn't make it for their short opening time. Another reason to visit Palermo again. There really are churches behind every corner and you can't possibly visit them all.  ---- Let's go inside! I had no idea that there is something like *Sicilian Baroque*. Well, there is. It is similar to Spanish Baroque as the decoration was done when Sic […]