We arrived early in the morning at Palermo's Palazzo Reale, which after having been occupied by Arabian, Norman and Spanish rulers over the centuries, now serves as Sicily's capitol building. We were there to visit the Cappella Palatina, and its first class mosaics covering not just the interior of the chapel, but also the wall that faces into palace's courtyard.
I was stunned by the detail of the outer mosaics and eagerly awaited our chance to enter the chapel.
With us was a group of elderly Asian tourists. One of them was perhaps the oldest person I have ever seen. tiny, frail, wrinkled, and bent like an angle bracket, she relied on her can to prevent from toppling right over. She was, by my estimates one of the other grey haired tourists mother, and I would be surprised if she were not at least 100 years old. She had, despite her frailty, managed the stairs to this point; there was no wheel chair in evidence. Never let anyone say they are too old to travel.
When we entered the chapel, we were disappointed, not by the quality of the work, but by our inability to see it. Drop clothes hid the ceiling and the upper walls. Scaffolding reached towards the ceiling, somewhat obscuring what was visible. The down side, the reality, of visiting historical structures, is that they are often in the process of being restored. This was true of the ceiling in the residenz, the Brandenburg tor, and now, this place. We took the time to see what we could, but unfortunately, at that time, it was not very much.
Leaving the palace behind, we headed to the Museo Archeologico Regionale. Here, artifacts from all the great ancient eras of Italy are on display. Architectural elements and some Egyptian artifacts were of particular interest.
I was stunned by the detail of the outer mosaics and eagerly awaited our chance to enter the chapel.
With us was a group of elderly Asian tourists. One of them was perhaps the oldest person I have ever seen. tiny, frail, wrinkled, and bent like an angle bracket, she relied on her can to prevent from toppling right over. She was, by my estimates one of the other grey haired tourists mother, and I would be surprised if she were not at least 100 years old. She had, despite her frailty, managed the stairs to this point; there was no wheel chair in evidence. Never let anyone say they are too old to travel.
When we entered the chapel, we were disappointed, not by the quality of the work, but by our inability to see it. Drop clothes hid the ceiling and the upper walls. Scaffolding reached towards the ceiling, somewhat obscuring what was visible. The down side, the reality, of visiting historical structures, is that they are often in the process of being restored. This was true of the ceiling in the residenz, the Brandenburg tor, and now, this place. We took the time to see what we could, but unfortunately, at that time, it was not very much.
Leaving the palace behind, we headed to the Museo Archeologico Regionale. Here, artifacts from all the great ancient eras of Italy are on display. Architectural elements and some Egyptian artifacts were of particular interest.
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