Cruise day 5 – Sicily –Erice and Trapani
Trapani is one of those places that just looks welcoming when you see it for the first time in dock. By default, we knew Friday was going to be a better day than Thursday.
At breakfast, we were seated with a German family, who did not seem interested in conversation with us. It was interesting to watch the man struggle to communicate with the wait staff that he wanted bread rolls with his breakfast – they kept bringing him the tray of croissant and muffins. Or nothing at all. At the same time, the same wait staff couldn’t figure out that Andy wanted multiple glasses of orange juice – they kept trying to give me one of the two glasses Andy ordered.
We didn’t need to meet the tour till 12:15 p.m. at the dock, so we decided to wander around Trapani on our own for a couple of hours. To exit the dock, we had to walk all the way around and through a building that looked to me to be a tourist information center. Not sure what the purpose was to make us do that, but Andy was able to ask how to get to the main shopping streets.
The shopping area was filled with people, mostly tourists from the ships, of course. In one of the shops I bought a black and pick elephant made of a kind of stone that I can’t ever remember its name, but I have others like it – but not black and pink. We wandered out of the shopping area; we think we stumbled across the Jewish Quarter, but there’s nothing Jewish left.
Due to the awkward timing of the tour – we had breakfast at 9:00, but the tour started at 12:30, so when were we going to squish in lunch? So we decided to have an “Eleanor” lunch (so named in honor of a dinner companion from Tuesday, who told us that she has dessert when in port and eat healthy on the boat) – gelato at a gelateria within eyesight of the ship. We then walked back to the port to meet the tour bus. Of course we once again had to go through that building all the way out of the way.
As we lined up to board a bus, we felt like we should interview the tour guides before deciding which line to stand in. Another day of with a bad tour guide would just about do us in. Luck was with us this time – we were able to grab the front seats, which makes it easier for me to get on and off the bus, and the tour guide, Anita, was wonderful. I suspected she wasn’t Italian – her accent sounded more German, and sure enough, later in the day she told us that she was in fact German, but her husband was Italian. Her English was clear and colloquial, and she was interesting!
On the way up the mountain to Erice (pronounced EH-ree-cheh), she gave us a full history lesson on the history of the area. Of course I don’t remember the details, other than there is evidence that Sicily has been inhabited for about 30,000 years, and various populations have fought over it over the centuries. Originally Erice was the population center – because it was perched at the top of the steep mountain trail it was easy to defend – and Trapani was just a port. Over the last couple of centuries the situation has reversed – Trapani is now the bustling city, and Erice now a tourist destination and a center for scientific research.
The climb to the top of Erice was an entertaining challenge – the stone paved streets are 400 years old and very steep. It was worth it though. We visited the church of Erice that has a painting of the Madonna breastfeeding the baby Jesus – a very rare pose depicted in art. The painting is referred to as the “Madonna Lactans” – the nursing Madonna. There was also a statue of what is called “the Madonna of Trapani”, which is reproduced all over Italy.
After visiting the church, we walked to a spot where we had a spectacular view of the coast as well as the remnants of the Roman temple to Venus.
Afterwards, we had some shopping time – we ended up getting a tapestry wall hanging. Coral embroidery is another local specialty, though the coral used is no longer local. Anita mentioned that traditionally some of the best coral craft came from the Jewish Quarter.
We met the bus at the bottom of the hill at the gate to the city. The drive down the steep, switch back road was entertaining – all the buses were lined up like in a caravan.
Once we were back in Trapani, we toured the city center. We visited a church (I’ve already forgotten the names of all the churches we visited) that houses amazing statues/floats representing the passion of Christ. Apparently once a year all the floats are paraded through the streets (I’m guessing this is around Easter time).
In another church was painting with a rare pose of the Madonna nursing the baby Jesus – this pose is called “Madonna Lactans”. On the opposite wall from the Madonna Lactans was the statue of the “Madonna of Trapani”, which is a pose that is copied throughout Italy and Europe.
Anita walked us back in the direction of the ship and people left the group as they spotted a shop to go into. We asked her about the Jewish Quarter, and she did confirm that there is nothing Jewish left there.
As instructed, we retrieved our passports, since we would need them to enter Tunisia the next day. We were still confused about the dress code, since Tunisia is a Muslim country – the pamphlet we received said “cover bare skin” in one sentence and “don’t wear shorts or tank tops” in another. The front desk wasn’t much help on this, so we decided that our collared t-shirts and jeans would be good enough.
At dinner we ate with a Filipino couple from Chicago and a gay couple (Guy and Frank) from Belgium. It was a delightful conversation.
The big show for the evening was, of all things, a professional harmonica player. Seriously? This is the best they could come up with? With low expectations, we went anyway. Although pleasant enough, it was still a bit ridiculous.
One of the couples at dinner alerted us to the dessert extravaganza starting at 10:30, so of course we had to go. I never did find the cheesecake and settled for chocolate dipped fruit kabobs. Life is tough.
Towel animal of the day: not sure what that was supposed to be?
A great day – quadruple thumbs up!
Tomorrow, Tunis!
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