Monreale, off to the sea

After 3 hot nights in Palermo we made a detour to nearby Monreale (not to be confused with Monreal in Rhineland-Palatinate 😉), which is known for its Norman cathedral from the 12th century.

As we left the parking space in Palermo, the road was being resurfaced, as we mentioned earlier - exactly the section before our exit. After a short wait, a friendly asphalter helped us find a way over the hot asphalt and insisted on giving Anita his ice lolly, which he and all his colleagues had received from the foreman earlier.

After a wild ride through the streets of Palermo, we soon arrived in Monreale. Since it is not possible to park a camper van in the small mountain village, we had to drive a few extra laps before a gentleman on the side of the road "kindly" directed us. As it soon turned out, he offered to keep an eye on our vehicle while we were gone - for a fee, of course. Since we didn't want to look any further, we agreed. But Anita negotiated him down by half. When he complained in the third round of negotiations that he also had to feed his family, she finally took pity on him.

Konstantin is not really a "church fan", but this building impressed him too. Apart from the roof, which burned down in the 18th century, almost everything from the Norman period has been preserved. Over 6000 m2 of mosaics! Anita was enthusiastic anyway.

The mixture of Arabic and Byzantine art does not fail to have its effect. Truly beautiful and impressive.

Unfortunately, part of the main nave was being renovated and so we were unable to take in the full splendor. Afterwards we walked over the rooftops with a beautiful view of Palermo.

The car was still there when we returned, but the "protector" was no longer to be seen.

Google Maps led us west along narrow mountain roads to our next destination. The deal with the kids is that after x days of sightseeing, at least as many days are spent on the beach. So we went to a nice little campsite right on the coast. We quickly parked, set up our things and headed into the water.

After the sweaty days, it's a pleasure to splash around in the warm water. Now the holiday has really begun for the children too.