Mediterranean Escape 2016: Travelling through history 02-16-2016

We loaded up the car and left for Trapani this morning. It was about a 2 hour drive along the coast on the northwest side of Italy. The drive through the mountains was very scenic. The drive through Palermo, not so. The traffic was terrible, no sign of any traffic enforcement that I could see. The pervading atmosphere was "every man for himself". I have been thankful for many things in my life. Today, in Palermo, I was just thankful that Terry was driving. He did a masterful job, as evidenced by the fact we are still alive or not in a hospital. Enough of that, on with the trip. Through it all, he remained cool, calm, and collected.

As tourists, we do several things. Walk, ride, take pictures, and look for places to eat. After checking into our hotel in Trapani, our next mission was lunch. Does the phrase "I am so hungry I could eat a horse" mean any thing to you? It has taken on a new meaning to me. We found a nice little Arabic restaurant at which to eat. Mary ordered pizza, Terry ordered pasta with crayfish, Linda ordered a chicken , zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, and onions in a pita sandwich. I ordered a sandwich with sausage in pita bread. As we placed our orders, we noticed that horse meat was on the menu. Terry asked if I had ever eaten horse. No, I have not, I replied. He asked if I would try it. I said sure. He told the waiter to bring me a sample of horse meat. Another waiter came by in a few minutes and Terry asked about the horse meat. Oh, do you want horse meat?, he said. Terry said he did not, but his friend did. So the waiter said okay. Shortly our lunch was served. Mary's pizza, Linda's chicken, Terry's pasta, and my sandwich of horse meat. Terry was very apologetic. He offered to buy me another. I said no, I try to eat the local cuisine whereever I am. It wasn't bad. Not like beef, not like chicken, not like fish. Not bad. (Terry was shocked, he did not think I would eat it.).

On with our sightseeing. We drove up Mount San Giuliano to the village of Erice. This town was founded by the Phoenicians, attacked by the Carthaginians, and ruled by the Arabs until the Normans came along in 1167 and took over. As you can see, it is old. It is beautiful. It is at the 2400' level above sea level and today it was foggy and cold. So all in all, today has been another voyage of discovery of the ancient history of this ancient land. We are on break now. We shall eat later in "Old Town" and continue our quest tomorrow.