Sicily Day 7. Marinella di Selinunte

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Sicily. Day 7. Friday. 16 Oct 2015. Marinella

Today we are dashing, if that is what you could call 21 disparate cyclists on holiday, down to the Marsala archaeological museum to see what is reputedly the oldest warship in the world dating back to 240 BC. Getting this bus trundling in a morning, and even later in the day, is a major feat. Have you ever noticed how the slower, less confidant riders always set off last when the group rolls? "After you dear!", Meanwhile the peleton is disappearing out of site and they are then we'll and truly 'dropped'. When we got into town we found the remains of the warship to be impressive, it was originally 35m long and had 17 oars at each side and was built by the Carthaginians. The very few remains of the ship were found by a dredger in 1969 and have been preserved and put on display along with many other artefacts of the period. Marsala is also the place where Garibaldi landed with 1000 troops to liberate Sicily and help unify Italy.

After lunch in Mazara we looked around the old quarter of the town with its many churches and large buildings with magnificent stone carvings. We moved further south to be surrounded by kilometre and kilometre of vines and wine makers. We later went inland towards Campobello and moved into the olive growing region with olive trees as far as the eye could see. I was also surprised how many olive oil factories we saw with loads of men coming back from the fields with tractor loads of olives and many workers of African origin walking home. After a very interesting day we got to our hotel which is a very nice one near Marinella di Selinunte with a large courtyard and rooms all around. Washing done and draped over the roof tiles on the rooftop by our window.

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