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Date: 04 Aug 2008 10:43:51
Title: Trapani Days Four & Five
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Saturday 2nd August

 

9.30 am reported on board Norseman (the Falcon 90) to watch the All Blacks play Australia, with clean clothes and a sworn promise not to mention the World Cup to our Australian hosts. Now in my defence I would like it known that he mentioned it first as he felt the need to tell me he had gone to Paris to watch some of the World Cup games.......

 

Had the full tour and it was pretty spectacular. The engine room was not just immaculate (and huge), but polished within an inch of its life. Fantastic galley and of course superb cabins for guests and the owners. Sarah almost had to be dragged away from the outstandingly beautiful polished marble sink surround in the owners en-suite bathroom. Mind you the running costs are pretty special too. It uses around 240 litres of diesel an hour when fast cruising around 18+ knots. (We use 3.5 litres per hour at 7 knots, but prefer to sail!)

 

Sarah spent a very long hot afternoon polishing the starboard side of our hull, not in competition you understand, it is just that the programme of ongoing maintenance never stops.

 

No sign of our Raymarine man, which was no real surprise given where we are. We have had plenty of experience of tardy electrical experts back at Hamble Point marina in the UK, so it must be part of the Raymarine training!

Invited our hosts (Hans & Uli) from this morning to join us for drinks in the evening, which all went well, except the mosquitoes again selected me for special treatment!

 

Sunday 3rd August

Decided to join Hans & Uli on a trip up to see the town of Erice, which is at the vey summit of the 'Mountain of God' which overlooks the city of Trapani. Erice is one of Italy’s most spectacular hill towns from which on a clear day you are supposed to be able to see all the way to Tunisia.  There is a road leading up, but we chose to ride up in a cable car (very brave of me!) which gave us a superb view all the way to the top. The town itself is a wonderful maze of tiny cobbled streets, perched on the hill with any number of churches which provide the focus of most people's visits. We read that it also was the abode for Venus the Goddess of Love and it followed a peculiar ritual of sacred prostitution, with the prostitutes themselves accommodated in the Temple of Venus and despite numerous invasions the temple always remained intact...! Lots of ceramics for sale and of course a good many dreadful tourist shops selling complete rubbish. Some stunning views and great architecture and normally probably very quiet and empty, however, just our luck that a Thompson Holidays Cruise ship docked in Trapani this morning and seemingly most of the passengers had come up in a fleet of coaches complete with English speaking guides, so for a while the place was heaving! Had a nice lunch up a quiet side street and returned to the boats in mid afternoon. Sarah then set about washing and polishing the port side of the hull, whilst I sat in the shade stripping down and servicing a toilet pump. Such are the delights of cruising!

 

Not surprisingly given its location, Sicily's history is one of constant invasions and changing allegiances. According to the Lonely Planet guide, "Sicily's list of invaders features all the usual suspects: Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines, Spaniards, and more surprisingly, the Normans with their delightful Monty Python-style names (King Roger, William the Bad, Walter the Archbishop...)."

From our point of view as visitors, this chequered history has left the areas we have seen so far with an extraordinary mix of architectural influences. (I have posted a few of the photos on the main site www.rhbell.com )

 

Spent the evening chatting and drinking Sicilian red wine on the upper deck of Norseman!

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