Blogs from Erice, Sicily, Italy, Europe

We had a lovely breakfast at our hotel this morning. An assortment of fresh fruit, breads, scrambled eggs, salami and cappuccino. The hotel Mon Plaisir was beautiful with well kept gardens and a pool. We were not able to use the pool as it was too chilly outside. We loaded the Tiago and headed to Erice. It was up the hill outside of town and after about a half hour of switchbacks we made it up. We visited a variety of churches and the bell tower. We had lunch at Postale 17. Pasta again. Very nice eggplant sauce with pasta shaped like a hollow spring. It was the width of about 1/4 inch and about 1.5 inches long. After lunch we drove down towards our next destination. The roadway was set up for a race up ... read more

As we left Mondello for the last time, we picked up our guide Sabrina in Palermo for one final visit to the historic center. So technically speaking, I did drive in Palermo and lived to talk about it. The blackouts were in full bloom and wildfires continued to burn. We parked the car near Teatro Massimo and walked to the Museo Archeologico only to find by way of a hastily scribbled sign that it was closed due to blackouts....the best we could figure was that the staff closed the museum after the first blackout in the morning and never returned (after the power came back on). Oh well.....time for a lemon granita. After we said our goodbyes to Sabrina we headed on to A29 towards Trapani and arrived in Segesta about 40 minutes later. Segesta, founded ... read more