20,000 Reasons to Visit

Day 66
I was up early for one of the two daily buses to Siracusa. In Sicily its better to take the buses than the trains. Palermo was much calmer on a Sunday morning. I didn’t feel like I was about to die every time I crossed the street!

The bus was only about 3 hours so I figured that there wouldn’t be any stops. In Spain the buses never stopped until they had been going at least 3. 5 hours, if not longer. I was surprised when after only about an hour of driving we made a bathroom stop. I don’t know if it was so much of a bathroom stop or a smoke break though.

My hostel was super easy to find and the people working there we genuinely friendly. I set off to find some food and to see the sites. The only problem was that it was Sunday and even most of the restaurants were closed. The other problem was that my map sucked. I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. Eventually I found a place called Pizza Box that was decorated in American paintings and got a slice. While I was eating I realized that the place I had been looking for was actually right across the street.

When I had finished I headed over for a tour of the St. Giovanni Catacombs. Above ground was the ruins of the St. Giovanni Church. The oldest bits date to the 1^st century, however most of it was built during the 6^th century. The Normans made some structural changes in the 12^th century and then in 1693 the roof collapsed. The space is still used for services from time to time.

Part two of the tour is the 1^st century Crypt of St. Marchano. This was built before the original basilica above. Greek columns from other buildings were reused here, but not until the 10^th century when the original roof collapsed. A few 12^th century Byzantine style mosaics could be seen. They were only partial and it was not possible to tell who they were meant to represent. The remains of St. Marchano’s tomb is here. There was a hole cut out in the stone so that people could reach in and touch him. His body was moved some years ago to another place in Italy, I can’t remember where too.

The third, last, and most interesting part of the tour was originally a Greek aqueduct. By the fourth century when the Christians began to use it as a cemetery hit had been out of use for some time. There were about 10,000 graves dug out here, however it is estimated that there used to be about 20,000 people buried here. All of the remains have been removed. Most of the graves were either nitches in the wall or dug into the floor. Sometimes families would have their own areas, small caves were dug out for this. The cisterns for the aqueduct were used to burry some of the most prominent people. All of the graves would have been covered by a stone slab, but these are now missing. There are miles and miles of tunnels and you could get very lost very easily.

So what happened to all of the bodies? When the Basilica was built in the 6^th century the bodies of church officials and important citizens were moved into it. The cemetery, and the rest of the bodies were not discovered until the 17^th century and it wasn’t for another two hundred years did archeologist start exploring and studying the site. At this point the bodies were still there. At the outbreak of WWII Siracusa was in need of a large bomb shelter. The crypts were cleaned out and the remains put into a cemetery just outside of the city. I can’t imagine having to hide in a place where there used to be 20,000 bodies. It’s creepy. The pictures I have up of this are from postcards as you cannot take pictures inside.

After the tour I wandered over to the Greek theater. Some guy hassled me a bit, making lewd noises from his car, but I ignored him and he drove away. When I got to what I thought was the theater I was happy to see that it was free, even if there wasn’t a lot left of it. As it turned out this was just a mini theater and the big one, which is still in use today, was quite expensive to see. I decided to skip it, I’ve seen a few theaters like this before and I am sure that when I get to Greece I will visit more than I can deal with.

Back at my hostel I met a very nice Parisian named Dorothee. Dorothee worked as a poet, painter, and rewriter. The way she put it she took bad books and made them into slightly less bad books. Dorothee was intrigued by the idea of my trip and insisted on picking up the tab for dinner. I argued but didn’t get anywhere. I made her promise that we could grab a drink when I get to Paris in August.

When we finished eating we returned to the hostel to find the other two beds occupied. One was by a very friendly Swede named Christina, and the other a very rude Irish girl who clearly didn’t want to talk to anyone.

Everyone seemed to be pretty worn out and we didn’t chat long before turning off the light.

Lazy Saturday Afternoons

Day 65
I was up before 9 because all of the sites I wanted to visit closed just after lunch. While wandering towards the archeology museum I stumbled upon an outdoor market. This was when I realized that it was Saturday and these would probably be everywhere.

The museum was very expensive to get in and I decided to skip it. I've been to so many museums like this one that I couldn't see visiting another one unless it was going to be super interesting, or had something in particular that I wanted to see.





Instead I wandered towards the beach. It turns out that its more of a harbor. There was a large expanse of grass and scattered shade trees. I sat for a bit to write. Some guy tried to sell me a beach ball and seemed unduly angry when I turned him down.





When I had finished there I wandered past a flea market. It was mostly old jewelry and Italian books and held little interest for me. When I reached the bus station I got the info I needed for my trip the next day. I also grabbed lunch at a nearby cafe.





Eventually I found a very large market that everything you could ever want. All of the fruit and veggie stands had some type of food that was about 3 feet long and shaped like a cucumber. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was.





After stumbling on the remains of the Roman wall I meandered back towards my hotel. I had somehow missed the opening hours of the last place I wanted to visit. I guess the markets kept me busy. At the intersection by my hotel, called four corners, about a dozen people asked if I spoke English. It was odd to me that they would even think that I belonged there.





Soon, after picking up some snacks, I simply headed back. I didn't really accomplish much, but I had wandered in the sun for about 6 hours. I spent my evening packing my bags and updating my journal. Now that I had decided to write in more detail each entry was taking me forever to finish.

Finding the Grit

Day 64

I was up quite early because I wanted to get to Palermo as soon as possible. While walking to the bus station it was easy to see that Trapani was really just a one street town. Even without a map I had no problems finding the bus station. I kept an eye out for Marco, knowing that he was headed the same way, but out paths didn't cross again.

It was only about 1.5 hours until the bus entered Palermo. At first all I could see were wide, clean boulevards lined with expensive stores. My guidebook had promised me grit, everyone who had been here promised me grit as well. I was disappointed to not see it. After just a few minutes the scenery changed. Suddenly the bus driver was honking and yelling at the vespas as they darted around traffic as if it wasn't there.

The bus station was less a station and more of a road where buses stop three deep and you do your best to not get hit while gathering your belongings. When I went to cross to via Roma I stopped short. Locals were crossing with a cigarette in one hand and chatting on their phone with another. The crazy traffic didn't exist for me. For me it was paralyzing. I can't move very quickly with my pack and I had no idea how I was going to cross. I thought, this is it, this is where it ends. I will remain glued here, slowly collapsing under the weight of my pack and eventually hunger. After some time I gathered my nerve and at the first slight opening darted across as quickly as my gear laden body would let me. It wasn't until I had reached the other side that I realized I was safe.

Fortunately there were crosswalks and lights at the rest of the places that I needed to cross on the way to my hotel. Palermo's hostel is way out of town and just as expensive as getting a room in a hotel. Once again it was nice to have my own space.

After regrouping and washing some clothes I headed back out into the traffic. My guide recommended taking a bus to the Capuchin Catacombs, but it looked close enough to walk to me. I think the recommendation for the bus was because the sidewalks here are actually for parking and there were some spots where it was a bit hairy to walk alongside the traffic.

I got to the catacombs just as they were opening after lunch. I had seen these catacombs on several travel and strange places tv shows. I really couldn't believe that I was getting my chance to come here.

Initially only monks were buried here. Soon the benefactors of the monastery were allowed to be interned here too. The monks divided the corpses into sections, men, women, children, professionals and monks. This was losely done though and children were scattered throughout the place, and in some areas it looked like entire families were displayed together. I want to try and better describe what this looked like. I keep saying buried, but they were not buried, but instead hanging or lying in a nitch on the walls. The bodies were in various states of preservation. I don't know why someone would want to be put on display like this. I guess I should find it even odder that people want to come and look! I tried to ask about this, but they didn't understand my question.

Most of the remains were skeletal, but others were mummified. The children seemed to be the best preserved overall. Some of the kids looked just a bit dark and skinny, but their clothing was in perfect, albeit, dated condition. The decaying skin on some people's faces had twisted their mouthes into an eternal scream. There were a few with half bone, half mummified faces. These were the most gruesome of all. I don't know that Hollywood could have come up with something more disturbing. Even though it might sound silly, I made sure that I was never in a hallway alone. I guess that I have seen too many movies.

The bodies went through a few different embalming processes. The best preserved body was that of Rosalia Lombardo. She died at age two in 1920. Besides being very pale and looking a bit flat she could have been sleeping. Apparently the doctor that embalmed her never shared his secret, although that is controversial as it is not uncommon to find chemically preserved bodies like hers. Her body has never been tested.

Most of the bodies were enclosed in cells for 8 months after they died. At this point they were then washed in vinegar and then dressed and hung in their nitches. The bodies that were lying down were done so in a way that they could peer down at the visitors. There were not any barriers and if you wanted, you could have touched the bodies. Some of them looked like there were hardly being held up by anything and I worried that one might fall on me.

The whole thing was super creepy and I was sorta glad when it was over. I hoped that none of the people I saw would resurrect themselves in my dreams. While I was leaving some people were complaining about not being able to take pictures. (The ones I have here are from the pamphlet they gave me.) I think that if I was allowed I would have taken pictures, but I don't really think that it is a very respectful thing to do.

On the way back to my hotel I found Palermo's large cathedral. The outside it quite interesting, but the inside is rather generic looking. It wasn't long before I moved on. After a quick stop at the grocery store I headed back to my hotel.

The place I was staying wasn't very social and I kept to myself for the night. Palermo made me a bit nervous and I didn't want to go exploring on my own at night anyway. I spent the evening reading and updating my journal.