Blown Away in Sicily

May 18, 2018

We awoke early to the sounds of the gulls soaring over the B&B and the wind swirling in the alleyway outside our room. There was a light rain falling. Anna provided a cheery start to the day and a complete breakfast of fruit, yogurt, cake, custard filled croissants, ham & cheese, mini paninis, toast and jam and coffee. We packed up and were on the road at about 9am, direction Segesta. There is a more direct way to Trapani but we wanted to include a visit to Segesta to see the Temple and Arena that date back to about 400 BC. There is an autoroute for those in a hurry, so that left the provincial road for us and other locals.

The first locals we crossed paths with had fuzzy butts and made a lot of tinkling and ba-a-a-ah-ing noises. Yes, we ran into a herd of sheep in the road! We quickly decided that the best strategy to get past them was to tailgate a trailer load of hay. And that’s just what we did.

Aside from a little bit of sheep-dip, the road condition was very good and it was lightly travelled, similar to yesterday’s ride. The countryside was very green and was a mix of wilderness, fields that were resting and those that were cultivated, mostly with grapes and olives. Skies were overcast in the morning and it rained lightly off and on but it was a pleasant temperature for riding.

That’s the autoroute and a train trestle...though you don’t see many trains here.

The Doric temple of Segesta, constructed in 417 BC, came within view about 20k into the ride and it sealed our decision to make a small diversion and ride uphill 4k to see this historic site. The temple was never completed and still holds the mystery of why it was not finished. We were in awe of its perfect design and just the beauty of it on the grassy hilltop.

We also toured the amphitheatre, trying out the seats at different vantage points to check out the view and the acoustics. The view from every seat seat in the house was exceptional. Sitting in a seat that was once occupied by an Elymian is a humbling experience...rather mind blowing.

We left the site at about 1 pm, enjoying a 4 km long descent to rejoin our route to Trapani. Luckily for us, the tailwind that nudged us along in the morning only got stronger as the day wore on. I soon felt as though I was riding an e-bike. We cruised along at 30-45 km/h for a very long stretch through gently rolling hills. OK, we did have one little switchback to climb but after that we put out the sails and flew. The flowers took our breath away once again.

Gentle rolling hills on the approach to Trapani.

The skies cleared in the afternoon which intensifed the colours in the landscape.

The traffic intensified as we entered the outskirts of the Trapani but we maintained our calm, steady demeanour and rolled with the action as the situation demanded. That’s code for — “holy crap, did that guy ever cut it close!” and “is that woman really going to stop right in front of me?...you bet!”. There’s actually a sort of language that drivers understand here and you need to learn that language very quickly. First and foremost, stop signs are only a suggestion so you must be alert at all times. It’s not really a surprise to us as we have toured in Italy, albeit many moons ago.

We had booked a B&B in the old city. As we arrived at the old city gates we examined the map to find that it’s a maze of ancient tiny alleyways. We memorized the names of the streets and made our way down a series of dark twisting lanes to a door labelled Secret B&B.

The streets in Trapani’s old city are tiny narrow lanes like this.

We were welcomed inside by a lovely young woman, Francesca, who told us about things to see, places to explore and restaurants we might like. Then she excused herself as she had to make the cake for tomorrow’s breakfast. We headed straight for the shower and a nap before heading out for dinner at 7:30. The restaurant was a cool hip pasta place, with an ultra modern design. The food was fresh and fantastic, once again.

We made our way back through the narrow alleyways to the B&B, intrigued at this very foreign place where outside appearances do not match the ultra modern interiors. Such contrasts we have never experienced and we are quickly falling in love with it.

Thank goodness the alleys are well lit at night.

Secret B&B had an elevator so we didn’t have to use these stairs.

Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 94 km (58 miles)

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