Joan and Lothar Euro 2013: Day 25 26-09-2013 Thu Trapani

From our dinner location last night:

Today we headed partly cross-country on byways through scenic farmland, finishing on motorway to Selinunte near Marinella on the western south coast. Selinunte is a major Greek archaeological site containing one large temple in fairly good condition (Temple F) and another with one a partial row of columns (Temple A). Temple F is magnificent especially in the sunlight that broke through frequently. The two temples are close to a kilometre apart and we walked through a depression from one to the other. While doing so we realised we should have driven to temple A, but we are intrepid Aussies who, like mad dogs and Englishmen, go out in the midday sun. Temple F has probably been extensively restored, but there are vast amounts of temple rubble from other structures at both sites. The problems of being in earthquake zones (as in Turkey) one presumes. Apologies to AP, but we didn’t take the option of a tour guide (audio or live), so there is no more information to share.

Temple F

Temple A

Gum trees everywhere

We looked for water and lunch in Marinella and were persuaded to sit on the “terrace” by the sea. We ordered a large (family-sized) pizza to share, going on the price of €10, rather than the €4 option. We got rather more than we bargained for as there was one third left over that later served as dinner at our B&B. The over 30℃ temperature meant we consumed over 2L of fluid at this sitting alone.

We headed back to Trapani along the coast via Marsala, the home of sweet desert wine, along a flat and uninteresting stretch of road. This town was founded by the Phoenecians, later occupied by Carthage (the last city to fall) and then the Berbers. A possible derivation of the name Marsala is Marsa Allāh, "God's harbour", or mare salis, "salt pans by the sea" from the presence of salt pans along the whole coast. The historic centre is quite attractive with many good houses, plus importantly, cheap coffee and gelato.

We had to head back into Trapani to retrieve our laundry. On the back to the B&B we stopped by one of the many salt pans to look at the flamingos and the mounds of sea salt piled next to the road.