As you will have seen on our Facebook page this week, from 21 to 23 February, I dedicated it to a tour in the most representative areas of the province of Trapani. It was exciting to see some fantastic places that I had already told you about and that I had lapped in the past without dwelling on the essence of the place.
The departure from Palermo
Accompanied by my partner, we took our eco-friendly car and we left the Sicilian capital around 11 am. The time to review the map and set the GPS, put on your sunglasses and leave for Trapani. The highway in February is very lightly trafficked and the sunny day with 20 degrees did the rest. Obviously on the way we took the wrong road and we stretched a few kilometers into the immediate province of Trapani.
First stage in Marsala
The first discovery: on Saturdays in Marsala, parking in the infamous blue stripes cannot be paid for at lunchtime. It is a perfect combination, because we found parking right in the immediate vicinity of the historic center. Marsala is famous for the fortified wine produced in these lands, for the Donnafugata – a very particular and tasty variety of wine, and for its saline which we have already talked about in other articles. Walking through the center we found a very welcoming restaurant right next to the historic door of the town – where we were able to taste, at the price of € 30 per person, top quality fish including the famous Mazara del Vallo red prawn.
The discovery of the Stagnone of Marsala and Mozia
With our stomach full of local fish first fruits, we took back our car and continued backwards towards the Trapani coast. The sight of some flamingos by the sea made us happy – it is not easy to see flamingos in Italy. A large sign welcomes us to the pier for Mozia – an island in front of the Marsala stagnone and its salt marshes. The time to park the car and realize that unfortunately we were late for boarding (which was only in the morning), but we started taking photos of the beautiful panorama that we found in front of us. The mills that dominate the water basins from which to collect salt are an iconic image that surely remains etched in the memory of tourists.
Road to Erice
We were missing something on our tour in the province of Trapani – so we decided to continue with a real climb. Once we got back into our car and took the Palermo – Mazara del Vallo highway again, we saw the famous town of Erice from below. About twenty kilometers uphill led us from 20 degrees on the Trapani plain to about 10 – windy – in Erice. Arriving in the village and parking the car we immediately came across the authentic city carnival where people paraded with clothes from the past through the narrow streets of Erice. Adults and children mingled in the celebrations with Harlequin who sprinkled all the passers-by with confetti. After eating a typical dessert of the place filled with chaintilly cream we finally arrived at the panorama visible from the Castle of Venus, on the top of the village. The view was breathtaking, Trapani stretched on a strip of land overlooking the sea and the Egadi Islands (Favignana, Marettimo and Levanzo) could be seen right in front of the urban agglomeration of Trapani.
