Today a bus ride to Trapani.
Our spirits lifted as we left Palermo albeit just for a day and a bit,
with all our worldly goods in a small paper bag (for an overnight stay no
less!). Trapani is a lovely port city
brimming with baroque buildings and surrounded by beautiful countryside. The historic centre is set on an isthmus, so
you are almost always in sight of the Mediterranean and, although it is a
Moorish-style labyrinth you can see the influence of the Spanish architecture
of the 18th century.
We visited the huge Cathedral di San Lorenzo with its
baroque façade and stuccoed interior. We also spent time in the Chiesa del
Purgatorio, containing twenty life-sized wooden effigies depicting the story of
Christ’s Passion (that’s passion, not fashion, Julia). Then on to the Church of St Maria del
Soccorso, dating back to 536AD – a very pretty church.
After a brief bus trip, where we chatted with a couple from
Ayr, Scotland (where Elizabeth’s father was born) we arrived at the cable-car
that took almost 10 minutes to carry us up the very steep mountain to Erice, a
wonderfully-preserved medieval town perched right on the top of the
mountain. The almost-360o
views en route were spectacular, overlooking the ocean, Trapani, the vast
coastal salt ponds, the countryside and the surrounding mountains.
We followed the tourist walk, which took us to ten
beautiful, ornate churches including the Royal Cathedral, built with material
from the Temple of Venus by King Frederick of Aragon in 1314. The lavish vaulted ceiling is stuccoed in a
pretty laced pattern. Another church of
interest was a church, relatively small and un-named, whose interior was almost
completely filled with a large diorama depicting village life, perhaps at the
time of Christ (although it seemed to have a western, rather than eastern,
theme), complete with finely-detailed miniature people and animals. Fascinating.
The walls surrounding Erice, built for defensive purposes,
have as their base massive stone blocks originally cut in the eighth century. Sitting proudly against the walls is the
Castle of Venus, constructed by the Normans in the 12th
century. Over the years the Normans used
the castle as the seat of the Royal Administration, then up to the beginning of
the 19th century it was used as a prison. The views from the castle are
spectacular. We returned to sea level
via the cable car and while awaiting the bus back to Trapani we struck up a
conversation with a couple of fellow-travellers. He was born in Italy but raised in France and
she is Turkish. They both had
citizenship in all three countries and spoke four languages. On our arrival back in Trapani we wandered
through the vibrant Via Emmanuelle Vittorio and enjoyed a scrumptious Italian
meal of assorted meats, cheeses, tomatoes and olives, washed down (by John at
least) with the world’s tallest glass of icy cold beer. We relaxed for the first time in days and
soaked up the wonderful atmosphere, all the while entertained by our amusing
and animated waiter. Back to our cosy B&B, still sans-suitcases but having
had a great day nonetheless. Tomorrow – back to Palermo for our last night
there.
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