We arrived in Palermo in the morning, beginning our Sicilian adventure with a long walk through the city, to the harbor, along the sea, through a garden with large banyan trees, and through the Capo market and La Giudecca. While the Jews were expelled in 1492, the narrow streets and alleys retain the feeling of a medieval city and metalworkers today practice the same crafts as the expelled Jews. The next day we toured the city and Monreale with Laura, then had lunch of “street food” at the Balaro Market. Food and wine throughout our trip was excellent. One evening we learned about the Mafia in Sicily from two perspectives. One man’s uncle had been murdered by the Mafia, after which his family moved to England. The other was the son of a Mafia don, currently in prison. We had dinner our own--pizza in a local place, where the wood-fired oven registered 450 degrees Celsius and the pizza cooked for only two minutes!

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