Posted by cynthia on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

We went to Palermo to see some Cathedrals and the city on Tuesday (May 23rd).  We had some free time to explore the streets, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit of nostalgia.  Palermo reminded me of Boston in a lot of ways.

PHOTO: Palermo Streets

Being a city constructed with Muslim influences, Palermo has many dead ends and twisty alleyways.  Boston, being one of the older cities in America and thus not being systematically planned out, also has many small alleyways and twisty streets. If I had more time in Palermo, I would have explored more of the alleyways and seen where they led.  However, we had less than an hour to explore, and I decided that today was not the day to get hopelessly lost and have my professor go through the stress of calling the Italian police and sending out a search party.

PHOTO: Diversity

Another similarity I noticed between Palermo and Boston is that Palermo shows a lot more diversity in its inhabitants than the rest of Sicily.  Boston of course is known for its diverse populations.

PHOTO: Sephora

There are also many street vendors.  Clothing stores, street foods, souvenir stands- even global stores like Sephora and Footlocker.  I was very surprised to see these familiar brands here because I just didn’t think Palermo was big enough to have these shop locations (Is Footlocker really this widespread?  I was hoping to find a Dunkin’ Donuts to be honest).

PHOTO: Farmer’s Market

There are even farmer’s markets here with fresh fruit and vegetables.  The more exotic produce is reminiscent of the produce you can find in Boston’s Chinatown- a favorite and familiar part of town to me.

PHOTO: Exotic Produce

And of course, you can’t go wrong with selling Frozen merch.

PHOTO: Frozen

Many things in Palermo are similar to the streets of Boston, including the stores, horse drawn carriages, stands targeted toward tourists, and wide selections of farm fresh fruits in the farmer’s market.  However, there are many (both large and subtle) differences that make Palermo unique from any American city.

PHOTO: Horse Drawn Carriages

Firstly, there is a lot of space on the road.  The streets are wider and more open, whereas every single street in Boston is narrow and crowded.

PHOTO: Wide Streets

In addition, the main streets here have very distinct bike lanes, while Boston residents are still fighting for more bike representation.  Something particularly wild about Palermo urban city design are the benches along this street pictured; they are literally in the street- and people sit on them- it’s no big deal.

PHOTO: Bike Lanes and Benches

PHOTO: Traffic Light?

Speaking of streets, this is the first time in Sicily that I’ve seen a traffic light.  I guess most of the other towns we’d seen were too small and old to need much systematic traffic law, but it seemed that the use of traffic lights here in a big city like Palermo was still very limited in comparison to the use of traffic lights and laws in the States.  Interestingly enough, I’ve only seen one car accident here in Sicily, while seeing a car accident or two at home in Boston every day is completely normal.  Perhaps there are less people or the traffic is less congested in Sicily, or people are just generally better drivers, but whatever it is, we need to take a few pointers on driving safely from the Sicilians.

PHOTO: Fish for Sale!

Another subtle difference I noticed between Boston and Palermo is the sale of fish in farmer’s markets.  You don’t usually see seafood being sold outdoors in Boston (if it’s being sold, I’d say it is usually indoors). Fresh seafood is definitely a Sicily specialty, but the fishy odors on the streets and questionable puddles on the ground are not so appealing.

PHOTO: Tunafishing tunafishing tunafishing tunafishing

I also want to claim that nowhere in Boston can you go and just see slabs of fresh tuna straight from the tuna carcass for sale.  I was very excited to see this, being a sushi enthusiast (I spent over 20 hours watching two seasons of a show on Netflix solely about tuna fishing), and I would have bought some if I had a cool place to store it right away.

PHOTO: Important Sticker

Lastly, this sticker which reminds us of the existence of the Mafia (and continual fight against it) clearly indicates that Palermo is an Italian city nowhere near America.

Walking through Palermo, I felt like I was in America again, except that this city was prettier and that I was the foreign visitor.  Strolling through, I saw people going about their lives- walking, driving, and biking to wherever they needed to be.  This city has many similarities to my home city, but these subtle differences do set it enough apart for me to recognize its uniqueness from just any other city.