En route to Erice

Thursday February 25 was another sunny day with a high around 17C.  We checked out of the apartment in Palermo and were given a ride to the car-rental agency near the port.

One last mystery is the interesting signage on a number of streets near our apartment, which are in Hebrew and Arabic as well as Italian.  A little research revealed that the signs were put up by the City in the area where Jews lived before the 1492 expulsion.  Palermo was a very cosmopolitan city where Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together before the expulsion.  In 1492, there were approximately 5000 Jews in Palermo.  Many left and many were forced to convert.  In Sicily, there were approximately 30,000 Jews at the time of expulsion, about 5% of the total population.  Today, the Jewish population in all of Italy is around 40,000.

Signage in three languages (brown plaque)

En route to pick up the car, we passed the monument to victims of the Mafia.

We now have a Renault Megane until March 4.

Internet photo of monument to victims of the Mafia in Palermo

David manoeuvred through the crazy Palermo traffic (yes, it does exist outside the traffic-controlled zone) to the autostrada, which was almost deserted.  We passed the place on Autostrada A29 just outside Palermo where  Giovanni Falcone  (1939-92), the famous Mafia prosecutor, was murdered in 1992 by a car bomb.  There is large monument at that location.

Internet photo of monument to Falcone on A29

We had a beautiful ride to Trapani, our first stop of the day.  Beautiful mountains, sea and the beginnings of spring everywhere.  There was lots of green on the hills.   We arrived in Trapini at around noon.

Lots of green en route to Trapani

Trapani (population approximately 70,000) is a resort town located on a spur of land that juts into the Tyrrhenian Sea.  A number of stores were closed until after Easter, and the town was quite deserted and windy.  However, it was lovely seeing water surrounding the town.

Downtown Trapani

Post Office Telegraph building 1927

Palazzo Riccio di Morana XVI-XVIII

Old Trapani door

Palazzo Senatorio o Cavarretta 1672

We went for lunch at Tavernetta Ai Lumi, which had been converted from an 18th century stable block.  We had a Trapanese specialty of couscous with seafood.

Outside of restaurant

Couscous with seafood- came with delicious fish based sauce

David and Vicky

After lunch, we went for a walk down by the water.

Symbol of Sicily

Waterfront- we noted that most buildings faced away from the Sea- too windy

Memorial to those who died at sea

Another view

Trapani trees

We then drove up the legendary mountain of Eryx to Erice, located 750 m above sea level,  where we are spending three nights.  Erice (population approximately 28,000) is an amazing walled medieval town, with cobblestone narrow streets.  We had to park in a Piazza near the gate that leads to the main part of Erice.  Maria-Elena, from the Residence San Martino where we are staying met us at the parking spot.

Erice street

Maria- Elena and Vicky walking to the residence

Alonso, David, Vicky and Maria-Elena

Vicky got us two separate apartments through Airbnb at Residence San Martino.  It is also listed with Booking.com and is rated a 9.5.  There are 7 apartments and it is like a boutique hotel with kitchen facilities.  Each apartment is bright and has all the amenities.  Erice is a very special place with incredible views of the valley below and the sea.  It is extremely quiet this time of year.  At night, the fog rolls in and the temperature cools off.

View from inside courtyard

Our bedroom

Kitchen and living area

Outside of our two apartments

We were tired after our travel day so we just went to the local mini-mart, which was more like a gourmet store.  We bought some wonderful pistachio pesto, wine, and salad fixings.  We had a lovely pasta meal in our apartment.

Alonso outside door to Residence San Martino

Cheers!

I worked on Wednesday's blog which was posted on Friday morning, as the internet signal failed on Thursday evening.  Tonight the internet is working well, so I am posting Thursday's adventures.  Sicily so far is more than meeting expectations!