Where in the world is Gwannel Sandiego?: Symphony in gold

I have, like, A Thing for being in popular tourist destinations alone or nearly so. Maybe everyone else shares this, but judging by the hordes of cruise ship tourists traipsing about after guides holding up umbrellas I saw in Sicily, the force is not so strong in everyone. If anyone wants to get me an amazing gift, something like the after-hours private tours of the Vatican you can do would be a pretty good place to start (*cough* *hint hint Jules*).

So on Sunday, when I walked past the Norman Palace, home of the Palatine Chapel, on the way back from the Capuchin Catacombs and saw there was a line to get in even though the chapel itself would not be open for another hour, I decided to get up early the next day in the hopes of beating the crowds. So, at 8 am I was already waiting in front of the gates ahead of the 8.15 opening time. I was joined shortly afterwards by two other tourists and spent the next 10 minutes impatiently waiting, hoping I wasn't somehow in the wrong place and that no-one else would turn up. Just before 8.15, one of the other girls waiting drew my attention to a sign under perspex hanging next to the gate that said the chapel was not open today. My heart sank, but with just a couple more minutes to wait till opening time, we all hoped it was a mistake and kept waiting. Sure enough, the gate opened more or less on time and the first thing they did was change the sign to the day's proper opening hours.

The three of us charged straight to the empty chapel. It's absolutely breathtaking. Small in scale, but with every inch covered by golden mosaics, intricate tiling, carved wood or elegant stone. It is such an amazing privilege to see a place like this in piece and quiet and to really have the chance to examine all of it. We were able to go up the steps into the area in front of the altar, which it turns out is normally roped off, because it turned out morning Mass was about to start. After we had been in there for 10 minutes or so, a priest swept in to say 8.30 Mass to a handful of people who had also trickled in to the chapel. I stepped down from the altar area, and one of the attendants came and told the other two tourists to do the same.

I spent about another 15 minutes admiring the chapel and taking a billion photos (a million of which are below, I really couldn't winnow them down any further), during which time the other two left so I really did have the main body of the chapel to myself. Then a female guard came in and said something to me in Italian about the Mass. I thought she was saying "no photos during the Mass", so I said okay but stayed put. Dissatisfied, she went and grabbed an English-speaking colleague, who told me I had to leave and "respect the Mass". Which annoyed me because they could have a) not let us in there when they knew the Mass was about to start (glad they didn't though) or b) told us to leave when they came in and told them not to stand in the altar area. But whatever, I had half an hour in there and when I left I realised they weren't admitting anyone else, so I was really lucky to have that experience. I left and looked at the rest of the palace (there is not so much to see) and when I came back down the chapel was full of people and a completely different atmosphere. So my top tip is to try to sneak in at opening time!

I feel like it's maybe not as well-known as it deserves to be? I had come across it before, but only fairly recently, and I don't think I've ever really heard people mention the Palatine Chapel as somewhere they are dying to visit. Later on the trip, I visited Monreale Cathedral, which is basically the same sort of thing but on a larger scale. I loved it too, but my favourite is the Palatine, precisely because its smaller scale really allows you to be immersed in the beautiful mosaics and see all their detail. It is a blend of Western, Byzantine and Arabic styles which came about due to the history of Sicily (more on that next time) and which is apparently unique in the world, earning the Arab-Norman architecture of Palermo and nearby Monreale and Cefalu World Heritage status. If it's not on your bucket list, it really deserves to be!