Saturday, June 5, 2010

Palermo, Italy...Life and history

Today was a day of churches and more churches. It's amazing how many churches there are in Sicily when the place was founded by Phoenecians and conquered by muslims and has therefore only had a christian presence since the 1200's (The city was founded in the 8th century B.C.).  However, the Artwork in the Palentine Chapels and cathedral in Palermo are huge Byzantine-style mozaics of bible scenes combined with arab architectural features which makes a very interesting combination.

Italy is a place where history is everywhere, including in the present.  While going on a run this afternoon I stuck out like a sore thumb.  Perhaps it was because I was wearing running clothes and the youth around me were wearing the fashions of tomorrow, but I could have been walking around in 12th century Palermo and might have blended in better. 

In any case, my project for the next couple of days is to do some more exploring on my own and hopefully to communicate with some local youth.  I don't know Italian, but I can say enough with the few words I know combined with some slow Spanish that it should make for an interesting conversation.

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