Erice, the city of sacred prostitutes – 3rd May

Erice is a hill town on the west coast of Sicily. Founded by the elusive Elymians, it had the usual history of conquest and reconquest by successive waves of invaders of Sicily. But the interesting thing about this small town is the construction of a Norman castle over the site of an ancient temple to Venus, where young women of the cult were encouraged to offer their services as part of their religious beliefs. Needless to say, the cult did not survive the arrival of Christianity, and now this small town has over 60 churches.

Erice now survives on tourism (some might say this is a form of prostitution), because of its location high above the port city of Trapani. In winter, it is often covered in fog, called the the veil of Venus in Italian, but on the day we visited, it was a beautiful day, with views all round, both up and down the coast, and out to the Egadi Isles just off the coast. We took the funivia (cable car) up from Trapani, a lovely way to appreciate the site of Erice, perched on its cliff terraces.

Not much remains of Erice castle today, except for some battlements, though the associated hunting lodge is still in good condition. The views from the terraces and gardens surrounding these buildings are stunning.

The town was busy, but not overly crowded with tourists, so we could enjoy wandering the winding streets, getting lost, exploring, getting lost and … getting lost again. In fact, most of the tourists were Italian and under the age of 10!

We lunched on the terrace of one of the best cafes in town, sharing a plate of antipasti of local foods, before taking the bus back down to Trapani. This trip was also quite memorable, and the road would be great for road cyclists, with lots of sharp bends. I could imagine a stage of the Giro finishing at Erice.

Now, what’s for dinner tonight? 

Sadly, not much for J, who has caught a tummy bug! Walking home from our brief dinner, I thought how different our experience of Trapani must be to Pip’s in February. The town is bustling with an international yacht regatta on this week, there is a food and wine fair running, and on our way to dinner tonight we stopped to watch the show at the launch of a new fashion chain out let, then passed a large crowd listening to an author discussing his latest book outside a bookstore on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele. The outdoor restaurants are all busy. The night clubs are open, but at only 9 pm, still empty. In short, its a balmy evening and the place is humming.

Footnote: unfortunately, the place was still humming at 4am, courtesy of a bar and lots of people singing rowdy songs and bottles being thrown. I don’t have the best night and wake still feeling not well and very tired. Trapani has a bad effect on the health of the Morris family, though I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.