Palermo Warnings Or Dangers

There is the obvious comment when you say you are travelling to Sicily - oh are you not scared of the Mafia? I am not going to get into politics here but on the whole it is safe to say that tourists are NOT at risk - they have much bigger fish to fry.

The thing I would say is more of a risk is the problems with the authorities and the amount of beaurocracy which goes thoughout the whole of Italy. I hear one story of a girl who was pick-pocketed in a bar and when she reported it to the police, rather than helping her they were more concerned with getting her phone number!

I also would not recommend driving in Palermo if you can possibly help it - the driving is not particularly crazy but the city is fairly sprawling and it would be easy to get lost in the wrong part of town...

You know, old Cliffie has slept in the Amazon jungle, tramped though tropical forests in Africa and SE Asia and gone walkabout in the Australian outback without ever seeing - thank goodness - any snake. But once, on Monte Pellegrino, he decided to leave the track and climb to the very top of the peak. He'd gone about 50 metres when he put his foot down on a clump of grass concealing a snakes' nest. He stood, one foot firmly on the nest and the other raised in motionless horror, while four long black vipers slithered away. He never got to the top of Monte Pellegrino.

This fella stands near the Cathedrale, near the Quattro Canti. He is advertising a Sicilian puppet theatre.

Remember to leave yourself time to see one - we missed out !