Sicily-Erice & Trapani

The Tower-Erice

Salt-Tranpai

Found Ruin, Not Goats

March 31, 2014

Customs & Ceremonies

We've never been as lost as we were yesterday. It was only funny in retrospect, as are most of life's "adventures." But some Aussies we met today put things in perspective. They said we weren't lost; we were only misplaced.

Ah, the mysteries of Italian breakfasts. We were confronted with a bowl of water on the buffet table. Was it melted ice? Was there an expectation that we'd wash our hands before eating? If so, was a prayer required as with Passover? But there was a clue. A bowl of fruit sat nearby. There was a large fabric napkin on the table flanked by two enormous spoons. The light dawned. The water was to wash the fruit before eating. How sanitary! Everyone got to wash their fruit in the same water. Lucky for us the hotel hardly had any guests. Our chances of contamination diminished. I chose a huge kiwi & did the ablutions. I cut into the succulent innards & we shared what turned out to be the most tasteless kiwi I'd every bitten into. Shame on you, New Zealand.

Knowing we could now find our hotel using the GPS, we braved the wilds of Marsala in search of a laundry. It was right where it was supposed to be. Judi & I went in to negotiate our needs & David stayed parked in an actual legal space. We needed the clothes back by tomorrow morning. Our first problem came when the clerk showed us the days on a calendar. I recognized the names of the days from French, but the layout of the calendar was unfamiliar. It dawned on me that the first day of their week was Monday. It all fell into place. Time of pick-up was another issue. Ten o'clock sounded ok when I remembered they use a twenty-four hour clock & she wasn't talking about 10 PM. Our cost was E$15. Reasonable considering the hotel charges E$3 per pair of underpants.

We turned toward the medieval town of Erice via the road to Trapani. I read about the coastal islands we were passing & about the yearly Great Tuna Massacre still practiced today. It’s a macabre example of drift net fishing. Vegetarians & the squeamish stop reading here. Tuna come to the waters off this coast to spawn. Following the old Arab practice, huge nets are dropped into the seas, small boats are used to herd the tuna into nets, hooks & poles are used to gaff them, & it's all over in fifteen minutes. The entire bloody event is accompanied by priestly chanting, an echo from the old tradition, & is now a major tourist attraction. Buono appetito.

Greater Expectations

The topography became pretty again. It looked a bit like the outskirts of Akron with rolling green hills & vineyards. Olive groves told us we definitely weren't home anymore. We saw plastic bottles still dangling from the trees as Marco described to us yesterday. He said that flies are a huge problem for the olives. Instead of spraying poison on the entire grove, farmers hang plastic bottles filled with sardines & poisoned sweet water. The smell attracts the flies who die after a bountiful feast. The smell also probably repels olive poachers.

Erice is perched 2,500 feet above Trapani. The approach is a 15km half hour climb up twisting roads. The blue triangle indicating our car on the GPS twirled in circles as we turned one switchback after another.

It was love at first sight for us. We parked outside the walls & entered a city that time had forgotten. The preservation was marvelous & even the gift shops tucked into quiet alleys were inconspicuous enough to be overlooked. Well, we really didn't do that. I've been searching for a hippo for Rylee's "collection" & Sicily wasn't an easy place to find one. I'd learned the Italian for it (hippopatomo- said with an Italian accent) & finally hit pay dirt. The proprietor was as surprised to have a hippo buyer as I was to find a green hippo bank. I haven't checked to see if it was "made in China."

We strolled well-worn cobblestone streets perched above the clouds, gazed at Trapani below, the seas, & the remarkable islands. Church steeples & domes cropped up around every bend dotting the skyline with their ancient presence. People still inhabited this magical aerie of a village & we were privileged to share their world for a few hours. We were fortunate that tourists were at a minimum & we had the streets to ourselves.

David had to run back to update our parking ticket & we'd agreed to meet him at a landmark tower. He had the map. How hard could it be? Aha! You're anticipating an adventure, but we didn't "misplace" him. He returned a bit breathless from his uphill jaunt.

We ducked into St. Julian's Church at the end of our stay. Built in 1076, it was dedicated to San Giuliani in thanks for protecting Erice against a Muslim siege. The interior was bathed in soft white light from the whitewashed stone walls & white stucco figures. A parade of statues known as the Easter Statutory Groups lined the walls. They depict in larger than life figures, muted colors, & gruesome detail the last hours of Jesus. A collection of small wax figures under domes of glass showing gentler religious themes incorporating floral & lace designs were on display in another room. The oratory exhibited items labeled, "preziose stoffe per l'eucarsitia." I translated it as "precious stuff for the eucharist" (ornately decorated cloth). David thought it should be called "matzo covers."

Lunch was at a simple hole in the wall with no English spoken. We'd seen people eating fried round balls the size of billiard balls & wondered what they were. They were prominently displayed in the case along with some kind of pork pizza & ham & cheese subs. We knew that "riso" was rice & most were spinach, eggplant, & pistachio, but what kind of "carne" was in the other one. The lady behind the counter answered our carne question by saying, "moo." I responded with "sensa oink?" & she said, "Si." We were in business. The four varieties were tasty & just the right amount for us to share. They're called arancini.

Our time was up in Erice. We reluctantly descended to modern, overbuilt Trapani in search of their famous saltpans. Signage to "saline" was clear & it wasn't long before we found a World Wildlife preserve complete with salt lake, piles of salt drying, & a windmill. The latter was to grind the coarse sea salt. Phoenicians & Arabs were among the first to establish this industry here & brought red Nubian garlic, which is still cultivated in the rich clay soil.

We took a walk on the wild side before dinner. We followed the path David had taken through the vineyard looking for goats. We heard them but didn't find them.

Dinner was at a Sicilian style pizzeria, Fratelli Pappalardi. There was a large window looking into the oven area. The two men who were pizza wrangling were happy to pose for a photo. Sicilian pizza dough is a bit thicker & what they call panini is a two crust pizza with a crust on top & one on the bottom. We started with a plate of cheeses, olives, caponata, & various ham & salami (the meats for Judi). We followed it with a veggie pizza & tuna & veggie panini. Sorry about the tuna :( I had a lovely red wine & we called it a day.

Back at the hotel we tasted some of the Marsala wine David had purchased in Erice. It was like port & none of us really loved it. Glad he bought a tiny bottle.

Tomorrow we go north towards Palermo with a stop at Monreale.

Toby