We would be spending three nights at our Airbnb in Trapani, using it as a base for side trips around the western end of the island. On Friday the 13th we headed over to Segesta to inspect the Doric temple there. But I'm going to skip reporting on that now so I can do all three of the major archeological parks together. So most of our time this day was in the hilltop town of Erice. This was a major Norman fortification and the town has not changed much since medieval times. It also has purported to be the best bakery in Sicily.

The hill rises 2500 ft above the sea so the views from anywhere in the town are fabulous. Below is the view of the town of Trapani. 

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First we did the churches. This little town had at least six and they were arranged on a self guided tour which cost a few euros but it assured us that after hunting and finding them they would be open. 

Below is the oldest of them. It was built by Roger the First, the Norman conqueror of Sicily so it dates to the 11th century. The inside is very beautiful but not original. 

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_8507011-Pano _8507092 _8507115 _8506909-Pano After marching up and down the cobblestones on our church tour we felt we deserved a visit to the bakery. Its reputation is well founded. Totally scrumptious!

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image (81) Then it was time to  see some castles. The whole hill top is a fortress so the castles were not really massive or elaborate. But what a view!

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At the top up against the walls of the tallest fort was this gentleman, entertaining the tourists and selling photo ops with his pony and cart. He was pretty good too. I suspect his real job is playing somewhere professionally. We dropped him a tenner and got him to do O Sole Mio. And does he not bear a resemblance to Vinnie Valenza? Vinnie, are you sure you're not from Erice?

_8507033 _8507039 We left in late afternoon and have a beautiful descent with the sun headed down over Trapani.  I would have liked to have stayed for sunset but the winding switchback road and getting through Trapani at night had me spooked. So we went back over to the salt flats for another attempt at the windmills. More pictures in the slide show. Click the bottom image to view it.

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