Today’s activity: exploring the historic mountain village of Erice, which is located on the top of Mount Erice in Sicily. Ken just asked me: did you climb up that mountain? Sometimes, I think he doesn’t even know me. Did I climb a mountain?!? Please. I got on an air conditioned bus to the top.

Weather report from Sicily:

So, we get on the air conditioned bus, and our guide says to us: you might want to bring a sweater. Because it can be quite cool on the top of mountain.

It’s 90 degrees in Trapani, how much cooler could it get 751 feet up? 85 degrees??

Erice is one of those places where you get lost after every turn. It’s a maze of a town. Luckily, Anna has an incredible sense of direction, so we could maximize shopping time.

Sicily is famous for its bobbin lace jewelry. It’s an extremely labor intensive process – handmade pieces of art. Making one earring takes between 40-50 hours. I bought a beautiful pair of earrings to support the local economy.

Erice is also famous for its 6th century cobblestone streets. Every step is a potential slip and fall. For the record, I slipped half a dozen times, but did not fall.

Anna’s ears perked up when she learned that Erice has a large colony of cats that live there full time. No one knows exactly how many cats there are, but people seemed to agree on “several hundred” when we asked. Anna stopped to pet 97 of them.

Our guide advised us to try the famous Sicilian granita. I had watermelon. Holy YUM!! This might be my favorite (non-alcoholic) treat of the trip so far.

QOTD from our guide: Sicilians have only one traffic rule: there are no rules. And after seeing how people drive around here, that feels accurate.

Back on the bus. We were almost back to the ship when a car with no driver backed right into the bus. Driver was not happy. A lot of loud voices and emotional hand-talking after that.

Erice was indeed a beautiful village. Super glad we went – great day. But you know what would have made the day even better?

A sweater.

Salute!

Travel day: June 11, 2025