wowee
they built a set just for us. and called it Palermo. thanks italy. all of you. thanks.
and thanks geoff and kerryn for hooking us up.
we were met at the train station by mario (bearing his fold out ruler to confirm that geoff was infact the prescribed 2 metres)... folded into the golf and whizzed thru the cobbled alleys and the wrong way down one ways... to find mario's restaurant... 'il garage'... (cowskins on the wall, tunisian techno on the stereo and eurosongquest '88 on the TV)... met by his dutch wife marilyn (sic) who walks us down a shady alley way... lined with decrepit buildings... into our cool 'restored' apartment... balcony over tiny alley (still room to drive @ 30kms)... and back to il garage for tunisian fried fish with artichokes and freely flowing 'house' wine... ohmy...
today we discovered that tourists (at least, us) don't have to pay for anything in this city... ordered 4 machiatto (in the middle of sunday morning market)... mario (from il garage) turned up - caffe gratis... geoff convinced the shell fishman to let him try 2 freshly shucked mussels with salt and lemon (rather than the plate of 15)... again gratis... so i tried to buy some fruit... gratis (accept for a handshake)... and then the guy @ sandwich bar couldn't stop loading our cornucopia of fried yummies (everything is packaged in cones... snails, ribs, whitebait... everything accept for gelatto which comes on a stick)...
Palermo is a the city that time forgot... the decay could be oppressive but for it's extreme romance.
No comments:
Post a Comment