The trip out of Palermo into the middle ages

takes 40 minutes on the bus then a ten minute walk up the hill.

The interior of Monreale cathedral is almost all glorious mosaics, and what is not is decorated in intricate Islamic-style patterns inlaid into white marble. Too beautiful for words or for pictures. At the moment the apse behind the altar is closed for repairs so the vast mosaic of a beneficent Christ was not on show but there was masses else to look at. I'm a huge fan of the story of Noah and the flood, which has been beautifully represented in art over the centuries, and I was amused at how the ark here changed design at different stages of its building. Presumably a site manager not keeping a close enough eye on things. Its three (or four) 'window' openings were each large enough for one face to gaze out so goodness knows how Noah fitted in all the animals. Anyway, he did as they were definitely all shepherded out on the top of Mount Ararat (extra).

The cloisters were also lovely, fine pillars of white marble inlaid with Islamic designs, or, even more intriguingly, with carefully cut holes where the inlay was missing. The sound of the fountain in one corner reminded me instantly of Granada in Spain.

I climbed up to the roof, with its considerate resting places en route, one of which contained hugely thick, vellum-bound records from 1598 to 1875 with hand-written spines of baptisms and something described differently through the centuries as 'comie', 'comunie', then 'communia' (communions? - did churches keep records of that?). From the top I looked down over Palermo to the sea and saw a fabulous example of the importance of grout-colour in design (extra).

I can't say more. Buy a book or watch a documentary or, if you can, visit.

I shouldn't have done anything else today, but the afternoon was my only chance to visit the Pallazzo Reale. It's the home of the Italian Republic's Sicilian Regional Assembly, it's a UNESCO World Heritage site, it has elaborately decorated rooms, and it has a chapel, the Cappella Palatina, with another collection of astonishing mosaics. I wonder whether any government, anywhere, has a more impressive home. The apartment rooms are all in very different styles - a Chinese room, a room with panels of dancing nymphs nodding back to 1st century Roman frescoes, and one utterly delightful cornice with cherubs and their floaty garlands painted over a geometric design (extra). Some very skilled trompe l'oeil artist was bored.

More wandering through the streets, and I continued to admire the dozens of stalls selling books. New books. There's a six-day book event going on, called 'The Street of Booksellers - Artisans of Peace'. It looks like a very creative valuing and  promotion of books.

Extras:
- The Ark
- Grout
- Cherubs with geometry
- Booksellers
- The cleanest launderette I've ever seen, open to the street along with all the snack and drink vending machines