Strummer in Palermo - February 2015

After a short break from this blog writing, I’ve been persuaded to report on a recent trip to Palermo, Sicily. As I’m still working/living in Malta, I decided to start going to Sicily to make the most of it while I’m living so close and also to practise the Italian I’ve been learning. I knew I was throwing myself in at the deep end going to Palermo and I thought I wanted that. It turns out I misjudged it a little bit and this wasn’t really a holiday at all, but more of a learning experience. However, that is still valuable and the fact that I’m inspired to write a scathing account of my 3 days there is a sign that it was worth going. When is it ever interesting to talk about the times you relaxed and enjoyed yourself?

 

So it was the 27th of February and as I waited nervously at the airport in Malta, somebody decided to make use of the piano that is sitting there in the waiting lounge and play the same tune over and over again (badly), which was nice. The flight combination I chose was to fly to Rome, then direct to Palermo as there are no straightforward options outside holiday season. During the flight, the digital map showed us flying directly over Palermo, but then 250 miles further to Rome, just to come back again, so that was my first moment of many where I wondered what the hell am I doing this for.

 

I reached the airport at Palermo ok and the next mission was to find my way to ‘Stazione Centrale’. I found the information desk and instead of trying to practise the Italian I’d learned, I copped out and said ‘parla Inglese?’ like a brit abroad. But when they said yes, I slammed my paper map down on the desk for no reason (nervous relief?), thus creating a weird atmosphere before asking the best way to the station. I’ve been trying to stop doing these weird things since I was about 6 and still haven’t managed. Despite there being a train link, they said the best way to the main train station is to use the coach. So that’s what I did. I hate leaving my suitcase inside the coach as I feel that anybody could come and steal your bag at any point, but I tried (and failed) not to think about it.

 

Driving away from the airport, I noticed how bad the area was... very poor housing and many bags of rubbish piled up on the road, as if they didn’t have a collection for about a year. We hit a big traffic jam with thousands of angry aggressive drivers constantly honking their horn, as if that helps. So this gave me time to look around and notice how run down it seems everywhere you look. I told myself it must be because we are in the outskirts of the city, but in fact it got worse as we went further in and it peaked at the station. At least I found my bag in tact and I orientated myself in the direction of the hotel. A Romanian gypsy girl was there to greet me while walking to the hotel and she held out her hand, seemingly expecting something. I told her ‘non ho capito’ and walked past, so she kicked water at me from a dirty puddle in the road. In my mind I turned round and punched her hard in the face, but in reality I just kept walking and gave her the thumbs up to say thanks for that you scabby little bitch. My first impression of the city was a dirty, dangerous, squalid, sprawling, traffic hell. The hotel was located on a road which looked quite a lot like a slum, which wasn’t ideal, but in fact the hotel itself was a high standard, resembling something like a gold tooth in a rotting corpse. [EXHIBIT A].

 

I got sorted in the room and plucked up the courage to venture out as I wanted to make the most of being in a new place. I managed to get talking to some Sicilian people in the hotel who didn’t speak English, so it was a good chance to practise the language. These are the times you wish you had studied MUCH harder. But I worked through the awkwardness and realised I have learned enough to get by. They were going out for food so I tagged along and got some pizza and ‘panino con la milza’. Google translate told me later on that ‘milza’ means ‘spleen’. Palermo’s culinary history is all about street food and they have always made use of the cheapest foods available. From what I saw, it’s still like that, but I liked everything I ate, so I have no complaints about the food at all...

 

However, there are some more things to complain about... I was quite shocked to see that every single building has been left to rot. Everywhere you look, the surfaces are black with dirt, patches of rendering or concrete are missing and the structural steel is exposed. There are many buildings which are totally dilapidated and it’s really not in a nice quaint sort of way like I imagined before I arrived. It’s a threatening and imposing city and I could see that many people must live in extreme poverty. There are a lot of small alleyways which you would not want to walk down at any time of day and I just got the impression that a lot of bad things are going on in Palermo. It shows how naive I am that I didn’t have a clue it would be like this. Apparently, the mafia are still ‘running’ the city and anybody who wants to invest in structural improvements has to get permission first from the mafia. If this is in fact true, I can imagine there would be a ‘permission fee’ as well. So how would anything ever improve? That night, I didn’t fancy trying to find any bars or to go walking at night, I just went back to the room early, telling myself not to be negative and it will be better tomorrow. [EXHIBIT B].

 

The next day I set out with a better attitude. The breakfast was great as I filled my face with doughnuts, ricotta pies and chocolate croissants. I ended up going walking around the city with the Sicilians and after seeing it in the daylight I have to be honest and say... it didn’t look any better. It’s a city which seems to have fallen apart so much that there is no way back and I don’t see how people can ever be ok living here nor how this can be considered as a tourist destination. It has important, historical buildings, but I found it difficult to get enthusiastic as it’s just not a place you want to be. Still, it was good to get more practise with the language as we visited the vucciria market and some of the main areas. The cathedral is impressive even though it desperately needs renovating and there are other landmarks worth seeing, such as Teatro Massimo, but right next to them you might find a burned out brick building with no roof, which spoils the atmosphere a bit. [EXHIBIT C].

 

Despite all this complaining, I was still happy to continue walking around as I’m always fascinated to study the behaviour of people in different countries. People like to gather in the piazze, doing nothing but sitting around watching other people walk by... there are big groups of old men playing cards and getting very animated... people selling random tat laid out on the street... always some kind of market or trading going on... more people standing around doing nothing, including plenty of dodgy looking black guys in the alleyways... I think I got some good photos and exposure to the lifestyle here, but I got tired of trying to speak a language I don’t understand properly and I didn’t feel safe with the camera as it was getting dark. It’s a bit like the silent hill game when the town turns bad. So I was glad to get back on my own and in the safety of the hotel. I watched Italian TV for a few hours... some stupid x factor style show with the same pretentious fakeness and cringeworthy adoration for the contestants... I thought Italians had more style than that. Nothing interesting happened in the evening, I just went out for another spleen roll. I didn’t see any bars open, just a few cafes and small shops. I noticed plenty of people out on the streets though. There must be a nightlife here but I didn’t find it and didn’t really want to anyway. I just tried to sleep early and planned more stuff to see tomorrow before getting out of here. [EXHIBIT D].

 

To get back to Malta I’d chosen to fly back from Catania which means a 3hr coach journey, so I was apprehensive about that as I didn’t trust anything or anyone and I planned to get a coach at 3pm, much earlier than I needed to. Still, I was on a mission today to see everything I missed so that I never have to come back. I started by having a massive breakfast, filling my plate about 7 times until it started to feel awkward. I set off to the modern art museum... as expected it was nowhere near the point it was shown on the map, but that’s ok as being lost makes you notice more things. The Italian was flowing by now and I was happy to discover it was ‘gratuito oggi’, but not so happy when I realised the museum was just a collection of 19th and 20th century paintings and not modern art at all. They had a watch person in every single room, which I hate, and to make things even more tense, I could see them peeping at me, itching to ask me if I wanted any advice. One girl got right in my face, breaking the line of sight between me and the painting, just to tell me the name of the artist, as if I couldn’t read it myself. Basically there was no chance of enjoying it so I put in a quick complaint this isn’t really modern art, and moved on.

 

Despite the appearance of the city from the outside, I noticed the interior of all the buildings was finished to a high standard. I started to reconsider my thoughts about what life is like there. I had been thinking that everyone in Palermo must just be existing, trying to scrape by, but maybe the reality doesn’t match the impression you get when you walk the streets. I started wondering, am I different to these people or better off in any way? I don’t come from a priviledged background and I generally hold an irrational grudge against people who do. So where do I belong in society and why was I assuming this air of superiority? If I was born here, would I be compelled to get out, or be able to get out if I wanted to? With the level of unemployment and general problem with corruption and nepotism, it seems you would have to get out in order to prosper. But what does it even mean to be prosperous? I can’t say I’m content in my own life yet, so I can’t look at this place and say I’m better than this. Maybe it’s ok here after all!

 

Then I took a walk along the promenade and realised actually no, it really is that bad here. The traffic is insane and it’s the worst looking promenade I’ve ever seen, with the ambience of a derelict industrial zone. At least the sun was out. I found the botanical garden which was ok, not amazing but worth a visit, then pressed on towards the Ballarò market. I was hoping to get some nice colourful action photos of local delicacies being sold to tourists, but in reality it was just meat and veg stalls like you would see in Crewe where I grew up. The difference here was that everybody seemed to be taking a special interest in the camera, so I tried to be brave and get some action shots but didn’t linger too long. As I rushed to get out of the area, I got a bit lost and realised I really shouldn’t be here with a big SLR camera in one hand and my mobile phone in the other for navigating. In hindsight it seems pathetic to be panicking like that, it can’t be THAT bad, but I still didn’t feel safe and couldn’t wait to leave. Palermo is only 160 miles from where I am living, but it felt like I was a long way from home. [EXHIBIT E].

 

Eventually, I got myself orientated, checked out and to the coach station. I was happy to make myself understood at the ticket office and even happier when I managed to say ‘mi scusi, puo darmi cinquante e cinquante’ to get change for the toilet (entry fee just 80 cents). The coach was on time and as I set off I realised everything has gone to plan and nothing bad has happened at all, so why all the negativity? If bad things do happen here then I didn’t see any of them. However, at that moment I realised there was some minging guy behind me eating crisps and the smell was horrible so I moved behind him. The problem was that now I could see him and that was worse, but some old woman parked her fat arse in my old seat and now there was nowhere else to go. Incidentally, the minging guy happened to be black, so I spent the next 20 minutes wondering if I’m being racist or not. The conclusion was no I’m not, this is just one of those people who seems unhygienic and imposing, thus I develop an irrational hatred for them. So thanks to him I couldn’t bring myself to eat the sandwich I had bought for the journey. Great. When we got out of Palermo and into the mountains I started to forget about it, but then he started snoring in a really disgusting way.

 

I had to deal with it and just try to blank it out. The scenery was amazing so it turned out to be a good idea to take this journey through the mountains. I was noticing how many houses are dotted around and what a different kind of life these people have chosen... how does it all work, how do they get the stuff they need and how do they get fulfillment? I often try to comprehend things like the scale of the earth, the vastness of life on earth and what the point of life is in the first place. Every action and emotion we ever have is designed just to allow us to continue as a species, but that still doesn’t explain why. Life is alright I suppose but there should be less of it. I think it’s a shame that there is almost nowhere that humans haven’t managed to inhabit, because most people spoil everything around them, like the guy in front of me (the one with the black hair) who I was trying not to think about.

 

I arrived at Catania airport 5 hours before the flight and made a ginseng cappuccino last an hour before the intense boredom set in. At least I knew there was nothing that could go wrong now, but that probably added to the boredom. Nothing interesting happened for the next 4 hours. I did my usual trick of being the last person to board and going to the back of the plane to find an empty row of seats. Nobody else ever seems to do this. After a short 20 minute flight, suddenly I was back on the small island of Malta and in familiar surroundings, in fact so familiar that I don’t know how many more times I can do and see the same things again and again... recently I’ve been getting fed up of talking to somebody and realising they are not really listening... being interrupted mid-sentence... being surrounded by impatient and insane drivers... being manipulated by contractors at work who spout absolute bullshit... etc...  but I guess I should stop moaning now, pros and cons of Malta is a different blog topic. Despite the complaining from start to finish, I don’t regret this little trip as I managed to expand my small mind and I will have to visit Sicily more often. Maybe not Palermo though... did I mention it’s covered in graffiti as well?

EXHIBIT A

 

 

 

EXHIBIT B

 

 

 

EXHIBIT C

 

 

 

EXHIBIT D

 

 

 

EXHIBIT E

 

 

 

Useful Links
http://palermo.com/
http://www.bestofsicily.com/transport.htm
http://www.saisautolinee.it/default.htm