Today's blogpost is from our cat loving friend
Chase Horn.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
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| Visiting the cathedral in Palermo |
Today, we went back to Palermo for our second round of adventures in the city. It was a hot, sweaty day, but we got to see one of the coolest catacombs in the world! We also got to see some awe-inspiring cathedrals and a very famous mummy. But before we get to the action, let me drag you along another typical morning in Santa Lucia, where we have spent the past couple of weeks studying mummies.
If you haven’t been reading these posts, then you may be unfamiliar with the Poker Bar, however, if you do pay attention, you’ll know that we eat breakfast there basically every day. Today was no different in that aspect, as well as, the fact that I woke up later than I should’ve (no, surprises there). Anyway, I had a chocolate croissant and a coke (I know, not the breakfast of champions, but I was running late and they don’t serve coffee on the go here), which was followed up by a cold bottle of water, for good measure. Everyone then met back up at the convent where we waited for orders to head down the daunting hill towards our bus, where we would spend about three hours traveling to Palermo. Most of the bus ride is a blur considering I was sleeping, but we did take one break at a gas station, which oddly enough, was a high point in my day. "Why would a gas station be so exciting?" you may be asking, dear reader, well, let me fill you in friends. In Sicily, there are a lot of neat things, but they don’t live life quite the way we do back home, so a lot of the simple things we take for granted aren’t as accessible. And today, at that gas station, I ran into a Snickers bar, a blue Powerade, and a neck pillow. Needless to say, I was one happy camper.
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| Power up with Powerade |
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| Beautiful paintings on the cathedral ceiling |
When we arrived in Palermo, we were dropped off and then made our way over to a huge cathedral in the middle of town. There were a lot of amazing things there, including various altars and relics honoring saints. The coolest altar, in my opinion, had the relics of seven different saints. Another interesting tid-bit about this cathedral is that there is one public bathroom. Not that interesting of a fact until you realize that that one bathroom costs half a euro to use and is completely hidden behind an altar. Using that bathroom is one cultural experience that I won’t soon forget. Soon, we would be heading over to the catacombs, which was one of the greatest places we’ve gotten to visit so far.
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| Blessed Guiseppe Puglisi, a martyred priest killed by the mafia |
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| Saint Rosalia, the patron saint of Palermo |
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| A hall of saints in the cathedral |
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| Touring the cemetery |
Before entering the Capuchin catacombs, we took a small tour around the cemetery that lies just outside of it. The cemeteries here are a little bit different, as most plots aren’t for individuals, but rather for families. Dr. Piombino-Mascali showed us some famous graves, including one belonging to a person related to someone that he knew who was killed by the mafia. He also talked to us a bit about the history of the mafia in Sicily.
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| Mausoleum of an important judge murdered by the mafia |
I want to throw in a mini side note here before I go on to the catacombs. I haven’t sweated through a shirt as bad as I did today since the days of high school football practices. I’m telling you, it was a steaming hot day out today.
Alright, let’s move on to the Capuchin catacombs, a place filled with over a thousand mummies, some of which were preserved in ways that are quite literally unbelievable. Dr. Piombino-Mascali gave us a tour, showing us the various corridors, some reserved for priests, others for children, virgins, women, men, and military. There were a lot of mummies... a lot of mummies. The coolest part was getting to see the mummy of Rosalia Lombardo, a child who died of pneumonia in 1920 and is one of the best-preserved mummies in the world. Honestly, if you have never heard of her, look her up and see how amazing she looks, it’s incredible.
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| A quick pic. before entering the Cappuccini catacombs |
After our tour, the students were given the opportunity to look around the catacombs and pick two or three mummies to analyze. I was given the duty of taking temperature and humidity readings in the catacombs to compare to the data that we have seen in other crypts. For my mummies, I chose two adult males with incredible facial tissue preservation. Both still had hair, a nose, ears, lips, and most of their teeth. One still had a mustache, eyebrows, and eyelashes, which I thought was incredible. I know for sure one that I analyzed was a priest, and I believe the other was probably a middle-class man who paid his way into the catacombs. I was fascinated by both men, their clothes, and the preservation of their faces and hair.
After our analyses were done, we went and got a quick snack at a little café just down the street. I got a coke and a pork and cheese filled croissant-type of thing. It was delicious whatever it was. We then proceeded back on the bus to endure another three-hour ride back to Santa Lucia. I slept most of the way, but it was a little bit of a bumpy ride. We got back and soon were treated to our supper and guess what just happened to be on the menu… the meatballs that I wrote about in my first post! I couldn’t have been any happier. Seriously, I love those things. They’re so good. So, so, so good. A little bit later, a few of us went down to Nicotina to have some gelato and observe the local celebration going on. We were lucky to come during a time of year where there are a lot of celebrations and I really enjoy being able to witness these events taking place. Despite the heat and the humidity and the sore feet from all of the walking and climbing, today was a fun day. It was also our last day of activities, as tomorrow we start working on final projects and reflections. Soon, we will be back home, and even though I love this experience, I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss home, my family, my girlfriend, and especially Kevin the cat.
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| Pasta with tomato sauce |
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| Meatballs! |
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| Five meatballs and counting...Ten meatballs total consumed |
