Day 24 25-09-2013 Wed Trapani

What a scenic day we had! 

We started the day by dropping our laundry in Trapani and then taking the cable car up to Erice, a well-restored old town situated atop a 500m mountain adjacent to Trapani. It promises fabulous views of Trapani, which we could appreciate (through a glass darkly, due to scuffed, dirty and scratched plexiglass) on the way up, hungering for more. Once in the town though, you get no views due to the high stone walls around the perimeter. The tourist map is useless and only shows B&Bs and eateries. It’s your classic tourist trap. It took some perseverance and a little wandering to find a vantage point that allowed us to drink in the scene below – it was fabulous. We encountered no-one else on this escape tour. 

View of Mt Cofano and Mt Monaco

Trapani

Trapani salt flats

NSA listening station :)

On the way down a senior like ourselves engaged us in conversation in reasonable English.  He was a Pole who left in 1968 from the southern region adjacent to Czech, going to Vienna where he finished his studies and has taught Italian for the last 40 years. He told us a number of stories about DH Lawrence who had lived in Taormina for a while. He claims the inspiration for Lady Chatterly’s Lover came from a tryst his wife had with a local lad who dried her clothes on the mountain over a fire after they gotten drenched – one thing leading to another.

Following Erice, we continued our exploration of the far northwest corner of Sicily, heading up the west coast to the tourist resort of San Vito lo Capo at the northern tip. On the way we saw a large marble quarry in the side of a mountain. 

We had seen this tip dimly yesterday. Similarly, there were dramatic mountains by the sea. We were intrigued by features in the rock and the fact that people built homes so close the base of a sheer mountain when boulders were strewn about. Maybe tourists don’t matter, like Germans swimming in Kakadu waters and getting eaten.

We only stopped in San Vito to get a late lunch and were lucky to happen on a nice little café where we again had arancini.

We followed the road around the tip heading south on the western side of the peninsula on a wonderful mountain road with some splendid views. Some of this was Zingaro National Park, when the road suddenly came to an end. Hundreds of parked cars, presumably from people who had taken to the hills (in 32℃ heat). Too warm for us so we headed back. 

Before reaching San Vito lo Capo again, we decided to check out a large abandoned stone complex. We thought it might have been a prison. Joan thought it might have been used in the slave trade. It was in fact the Tonnara di Secco – a tuna processing plant.

Stone capstan

We took a slightly different route on the way back, giving us different views. On the way we passed through the charmingly named village of Purgatorio. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough it was so bleak.