Once the bunch of garrulous Italian women in front of the ticket office had dispersed I bought our tickets (€15 each) for the Cappella Palatina, Castrum Superius Royal Apartments and the Royal Gardens (an extra €4 that we didn't find out until later and had to go out and buy them as you can't get them at the garden entrance .....) The first section was a long history of the city with lots of information in English and plenty of artifacts. It was fascinating to read their view of the Moslem occupation of the island. I'd always read that the Moslems ushered in a period of tolerance and coexistence but the story here was that was a myth spread in the 18th century by people unhappy with the rule of the current (Spanish?) rulers. Moslem rule actually had all Christians paying a special tax and the island being a very run down agricultural base. There was lots on the achievements of the Norman kings and it was actually an excellent museum in its own right. The next stop on the tour was the Royal Apartments. These were, for me, the least interesting part as I'm not really into 18th century baroque although the trompe l'oeil was excellent and the Pompeii and Chinese rooms had interesting decor. We spent a while there as the main attraction, the Royal Chapel, didn't open until 11. We were there for that time and went straight in. Wow! The room was a riot of gold and mosaics, telling the stories of Peter and Paul but in the iconic Byzantine style and with an arabic ceiling. Quite the fusion! A picture paints a thousand words so it's better to look at the photos really! When we came out of the chapel there was a huge queue as only a small group are allowed in at any one time so the lesson is, get there early! We walked to the gardens next but had to go back outside to buy a separate ticket then come back in which was a bit of a faff. The gardens were nothing special but were mostly quiet and peaceful to walk around and we sat down for a coffee whilst listening to chamber music, very nice.