Wednesday, June 1 (afternoon)

It was only in the afternoon, around 4:30 pm, when the first cliffs of Sicily showed up – and what seemed like an eternity, over two hours later, we reached port and finally was allowed to disembark. As we sailed in, I saw a tall mountain right close to the shore, in front of which was a smaller quarter.

Palermo – it was not love at first sight. True, I found an impressive street, called Via Maqueda, also referred to as "Strada Nuova" (New Street), which represents the main axis of the historic center with majestic buildings overlooking the piazzas. I rode through the crowds, they did not seem to mind.

I then found a market, where, similar to one evening ago, there were only people of color. The problems started when I ventured a few streets west of this, I thought to have arrived in a third-world country. The streets were full of trash, I spotted some palais and churches that had apparently received a death sentence - to be carried out slowly, leaving these till they fully crumble. I was not really impressed.

After the long journey, I was not in the mood of sight-seeing (plus I was feeling quite disappointed...) and decided to find a place and did so on AirBnB. It was in the outskirts of the city, it was the district in front of the mountain that I had spotted while sailing in. It was a couple of kilometers away and the clock showed that it was 9 pm when I arrived. A maze of narrow streets awaited me, with either no street signs or ones being broken, moreover, all streets had seemingly the same name. I called the owner, who did not respond. I cruised the small streets, being rather frustrated, my phone quickly losing its power. I was about to give up and go somewhere else, when my phone rang said he would be there in a couple of minutes. He did show up and lead me inside a nice apartment, which happened to be just one street from the sea. I slept very well...