Day 14 - Erice and a Night at the Opera

Duomo in Erice

We started our day with a tour of Erice. Erice is an ancient town founded by the Phoenicians before the Greeks arrived, It sits on a mountain top very high above the city of Trapani. To reach it, we drove through Trapani and parked at the base of the mountain and took a cable car to the top. There are only about 1000 people living in Erice but they are served by 10 or more churches, the most beautiful is the Duomo (cathedral) of Erice. The cathedral isn't much to look at from the outside but the inside is elaborately decorated. Today was Sunday morning but we were in town before mass started so we were able to look around.

Streets in Erice

The streets in Erice are more like alleys and you just kind of meander through the maze. It is a very touristy town and there are lots of cute shops and places to eat. We stopped in a small place and had tea, cappuccino and a canolo. I'm using the singular in Italian here as we only had one, but it was so big that we split it.

Castello di Venere (Castle of Venus)

There is a castle there dating back to Norman times called the Castle of Venus because it was built on top of an earlier temple dedicated to Venus. It has a great view of the valley below and the sea to the north.

From Erice we drove back to Palermo which was about a two-hour drive, back to the Ibis Style Hotel were we started our trip. Two more nights and we head back home.

We went to a performance of Rigoletto at the Teatro Massimo tonight which was fantastic. Of all the things we have done on this trip, the trip to the opera was probably the best. The singers were really good and of course it ends tragically as do most operas. Poor Gilda! Rigoletto is a work by Giuseppe Verdi first performed in 1851. This particular performance was organized by John Turturro (the Italian-American actor) and he was there to take a bow. It was the second night of its run and the opera was very well received.

We shared a box with 4 other Italian women and we chatted with them quite a bit. They were very accommodating with us as we were all on a bit of an angle to the stage and you have to move your individual chairs around so everyone can see.