Palermo/Monreale/Vito lo Capo, 24+25 May 2003. Click on images to see enlarged version.
All photographs © 2003–2005, Detlev Fischer
Palermo
(1) Palermo city map (central section)
(2) Via Roma was cut right across the old city of Palermo in the 19th centrury - it is now its main axis.
(3) Just a view steps from image (2), at Piazza San Domenico.
(4) On a Sunday, tourists dominate the scene at certain locations (here opposite the Chiesa S. M. dell' Ammiraglio (o Martorana). During the week, the city is not at all dominated by the tourism industry - few services look as if they mainly cater for tourists, there are few gift shops, etc (compared to Rome, for example)
(5) The woman sitting on the stairs leading to the Chiesa S. M. dell' Ammiraglio (o Martorana) sells a small image of Mary (or was it Jesus?), with a text on the back that recommends charity towards the poor. Its not a roaring trade. I bought one, but I have misplaced it. 
Added 21 October 2005: I have rediscovered it, it is a 'Maria Ausiliatrice' (click for larger size).
(6) A view steps further, outside St Cataldo, the British guide explains something to a group of British tourists. Everyone will have come up and go down the stairs in image (4)
(7) The same group of Japanese tourists clusters at the fontana Pretoria (off Via Maqueda), which was being renovated.
(8) Off Via Roma you find via del Celso, which widens to a longuish nondescript place with a row of old trees. You find the sine nome beer bar here. People have created an improvised street garden underneath the trees.
(9) Slightly offset from the via Roma at a shallow triangular place, there is this stunning house, a kind of palimpsest in stone.
(10) Via Masa is typical for the quieter part of town near the port.
(11) The Serra-lookalike monument on a large roundabout near the port is for the victims of the mafia. The inscription (hard to read unless the photograph is processed in photoshop) reads AL CADUTI NELLA LUTTA CONTRO LA MAFIA
(12) Outside the city centre, where the PANOPE meeting took place; an evening view from the office building across the transit road onto the low rocky mountains surrounding Palermo.
Monreale
(13) A true tourism interface, this man in his embellished horse cart. The sign says something like 'Contribute to feeding the horse if you want to take a photo'. Whether this job genereates enough for the man to live off I have no idea. In the backgrounf you can see the famous cathedral of Monreale with its byzantine gold-ground mosaics.
(14) This group was of course lining up to be photographed by someone else, not me, and some of them don't look exactly pleased - although they did not say anything.
(15) This painter looked very proud, painting and at the same time playing the role of painter (not paying attention to the crowds).
(16) A close-up, seconds later.
Vito lo Capo and en route to it
(17) An american tourist photographing what I believe is Castellammare del Golfo
(18) This is what he might have photographed.
(19) This is the beach at Vito lo Capo.