Sicily/Palermo Highlights ...

My travel days are getting away from me. My collection of pictures has outnumbered my opportunities to post them. Tonight's posting is about Palermo even though I'm writing it from Rome. And I saw things in Rome I want to post tonight but I'll try to do these postings region by region.

The picture above was taken in Monreale, a small hill town just outside of Palermo where a major Duomo boasts some of the most exquisite Byzantine mosaics. Even though the church today is Roman Catholic, the work was done during a period when the churches were under Byzantine influence. As you can see, the mosaics begin at the top of a capital and extent up to the roof. And there are many, many, columns, each with its own individual capital design. The picture below will give you a sense scale of this huge wonder. Be sure to click on the photos if you want to see more detail.