Medieval Erice and Greek Segesta, Sicily

View of Old Erice from the Torre

Erice is situated on Mount Erice at 750m above sea level and overlooks the city of Trapani. It is known for its medieval town. You could drive up there or take a funicular from the bottom (closed during winter and when it's windy). The views from up there are spectacular though it could be cloudy and very windy (like it was when we were there).

A courtyard in Erice

Next to the Pepoli Castle (where you could drink coffee, taste wine and sleep over)

We bought a MEMS combined ticket (5 euros per person) that would allow us to visit 6 monuments and like MIL grumbled, they were mainly churches or piles of rocks. My favourites were the Real Duomo and Torre di Re Federico. The others e.g. S. Martino (for its wood sculptures), S. Giuliano (Ceroplastic works), S. Giovanni (medieval frescos and marble sculptures) and Ruderi SS. Salvatore (ruins of a monastery) were so-so. Still it was a nice walk and I loved soaking in the historical feel of those piles of rocks, if only there wouldn't be so many souvenir shops selling the same stuff everywhere to bring one back to reality.

Torre di Re Federico

Royal Cathedral - beautiful!

We also drove to Segesta to visit another pile of rocks - this time Greek. Hub was furious with the ticket seller as he refused to offer a ticket to MIL (free for those over 65) as she didn't have her ID card with her. MIL doesn't travel with her purse when she's with us - so if you wish, it's a testimony to our generosity.

Doric Temple, Segesta

Segesta is a curious place. It has a 5th century BC Doric temple that was not roofed over, lacked an altar and was probably never finished. But it is well preserved though what a Greek temple was doing in a non-Greek city is a curious question.

This supposedly used to be a market place

More ruins

After the temple visit, one could pay extra to get on a shuttle bus to visit more ruins on top of the opposite hill, or walk up (1.5km). It was an easy walk, so we chose to walk.

Greek Theatre

I love ruins, they transport me to another time and age and I love the feel of them. Especially when these ruins were linked to Virgil's Aeneid and it was suggested that the Elymians (Sicily's indigenous people) were descendants of refugees from Troy. The Greek theatre was beautiful especially with a superb view of the surrounding countryside. Every odd-numbered year in May it would host classical theatre performances from Greek tragedy to classical Japanese, alternating with the Greek theatre in Taormina. But it is true that you'll need alot of imagination trying to figure out what the other piles of stones used to be.

Anyway they claimed that Segesta was abandoned in the 13th century after a number of wars and with the population moving to a better situated Castellammare del Golfo. They also claimed that a muslim community lived there at some point (found a mosque). Sicily must be a really fascinating island. Greeks, Romans, Normans, Arabs etc have passed through in its past. Makes me want to read the Aeneid again. How come I couldn't remember any of this Sicilian bit when I read it more than a decade ago?

11/12/2009 : We just received a fine for having parked illegally in the city. There was nothing on the windscreen when we returned to the car on that day though. It took them 6 months to contact us and half the fine went to "administrative costs".