Sicilian scenery

So, with all the wedding excitement and a lot of redundancy stress at work (I start a new job next week!), I never finished my Sicily posts. I know, you've been waiting on bated breath this whole time.

Monreale, as you may remember, was another amazeballs Arab Norman cathedral. Like the Palermo cathedral, you are also able to go up on to the roof for some nice views down into the cathedral and also a panoramic view of the surrounding landscapes.

It's always a special feeling getting a sneak peek from a different point of view

After navigating through the inside of the cathedral, you emerge to a view over the cloisters

Up close and personal with the roof architecture

Standing in the roof guttering

I had the roof mostly to myself, but a passing American couple were kind enough to take my photo on the stairs

View of Palermo on the way up to the cathedral from the bus stop

After the cathedral, I had lunch in the sun, which started out quite pleasant and quickly turned terrible as the guy next door whipped out an angle grinder. The restaurant owners must have paid him to take a lunch break just as the tourists started trickling in.

Is this the Monreale life? Is this just fantasy?

You know who loves massive, gaudy, ostentatious displays of gold? In honour (choke) of the stumpy-digited madman, here's another of Sicily's bling-tastic sites. Except this one manages to be tasteful, a word Trump wouldn't know if he tripped over it.

Monreale Cathedral, the second of the great Arab-Norman sites I visited in Sicily, is located in a suburb of Palermo about 20 minutes away from the centre. Getting there took a bit of research online and some wandering around the Piazza Indipendenza (outside the Norman Palace), but was otherwise straightforward. The larger scale (102x40 metres) makes it harder to see and to photograph the mosaics than in the Palatine Chapel, which is my overall favourite, but the incredible number and quality of mosaics is still unforgettable.

The history of the church in Monreale goes back to the Arab invasion of Sicily in the 9th century. The Arabs converted the Palermo Cathedral into a mosque and exiled the Bishop, who settled nearby on the hill of Monreale, overlooking Palermo, where a small church was built. The Normans conquered Palermo in 1072 and re-consecrated the cathedral. However, the story of the exile to Monreale was not forgotten, and in 1174 King William II ordered a new cathedral to be built in Monreale. Amazingly, the cathedral was consecrated in 1182. I don't know how the Normans managed to move so fast on these things, considering all the cathedrals you hear of taking hundreds of years to complete.

The interior consists of elegant columns, an elaborate wood and mosaic roof, patterned marble floors and walls, and most importantly, more than 6500 square metres of glass mosaics which mostly depict Biblical scenes and figures.

The relatively plain cathedral façade

One of the side entrance towers

Christ Pantocrator

The back wall 

I suppose this is Lazarus? Quite the belly, anyway

Ornate Baroque chapel. This is in a roped-off section you have to pay to get in to

Chapel ceiling

The inlaid marble floor

William II, founder of the cathedral, offers the building to the Virgin Mary

Noah's Ark

Top: Adam and Eve being driven out of the Garden of Eden. Bottom: Rebekah giving water to the camels

St. Peter

Cloistered away

So far, the Palermo trip has been church-heavy, I know. Good news! It's going to continue to be pretty much just as church-heavy, because that's basically what I did in Palermo. Luckily enough, they are gorgeous and amazing churches, but I know probably not everyone's idea of a rocking holiday time.

To break up the churches a bit here's something... church-adjacent (literally and figuratively). The cloisters of the cathedral of Monreale date back to 1200, originally part of a Benedictine abbey attached to the cathedral. They are made up of 108 pairs of columns, with alternate pairs covered in beautiful mosaics and each column boasting a carved capital, many of which show Biblical and other scenes.

You need to pay separately to go in to the cloisters (I thought it was included with the roof ticket, which it's not), but the extra 6€ or so is well worth it. The Arab influence can be clearly felt, with the central garden complete with palm trees and corner fountain/cistern.

The cloister as seen from the cathedral roof

The Monreale cathedral seen from the cloisters

The bright sun made it hard to photograph at times

One of the elaborately-carved capitals

Crocodile attack!

Not sure, but looks like this could be Cain and Abel on the left

 Dog attack and two knights

 The corners featured these amazing columns carved all the way round

 

Animal carvings on the columns

The corner fountain