Discovering Trapani and Erice – What to see in one day?
If you talk to any tourist, foreign or Italian, visiting the Western Sicily, You can not help but repeat, come un mantra, between the various locations, that of Erice.
“I went to Erice“, “You have to go to Erice“, “I will go to Erice“, and so on. At this point, all that remains is to face facts, get carried away by the mass and… go and see for themselves, matching, to Erice, a visit to Trapani. 🙂
Finding myself in Palermo, and wanting to take advantage of the day, I immediately discarded the train (that, to date, due to logistical problems, employs nearly 4 hours, walking around very long), and I focused on BlaBlaCar, car sharing system that I had never used before.
I tried, in their database, a person who effettuasse route Palermo-Trapani that day, a quell’ora. At that point, He does was to agree on payment personally (5/6 EUR) and meeting place.
Starting at 7 in the morning, I managed to get to Trapani shortly after 8 (thanks to a stroke of luck, we did not find traffic on Avenue of the infamous Sicilian Region!).
Having me with the trolley, and having to go to the airport that evening, I immediately went to Orange tourist Service, Course in Italy, not far from the central station of Trapani. Which, at the cost of 3 euro, I deposited the trolley, and then withdraw it in the late afternoon, Before leaving.
At that point, I was left to start my tour, devoting the morning to visit Erice, and afternoon to visiting the center of Trapani.
Piazza Vittorio Veneto, by the Court of Trapani, I took bus 23 the 21, that, cost of 1.2eur, He took me directly to the base of the gondola leading to Erice, whose station is located on top of a well 700 meters above sea level.
The cost of the cable car is not exactly cheap – 9 eur for a ticket A / R – but the experience and views abundantly repay the cost of the ticket, not to mention that the maintenance of such a plant has high costs.
Here's a video I filmed aboard the cable car, uphill to Erice:
Once in Erice, pay attention to map icon next to the great medieval gate of access to the village: there are shown two paths, one “short”, a duration of a couple of hours, and one “long”, lasting 3+ hours.
in both cases, pass for the most beautiful places of Erice: Piazza del Municipio (Piazza Umberto I), IL Castle, IL Cathedral, Via Roma, the Church of San Michele…
Piazza Umberto I, the Town Hall and… a bunch of old men sitting at the bar. 🙂
In early June the temperature was, Overall, pleasant, but every now and then they blew icy winds, so I suggest you bring a jacket, although in Trapani, at sea level, the temperature of nearly 30 °!
verso le 12:30, after nearly 4 hours spent among the narrow streets and stone houses of Erice, I took the cable car towards Trapani, to do a little afraid for lunch, and spend the afternoon in the historic city center.
Back in the center, I recommend lunch at “Self Service Palazzo Platamone“, a stone's throw from City Hall Trapani. With a ridiculous figure (less than 15 euro) you can eat a first and a second fish, una macedonia, including coke / water service. The TripAdvisor reviews, from which I was inspired to decide where to go local, speak for themselves.
After I had rested, I started the tour by Via Garibaldi, beautiful pedestrianized street, then go into what, in fact, It is still little more than a large village of fishermen, the smell of salt air and marine paint.
Via Giuseppe Garibaldi – beautiful pedestrianized street, onto which elegant palaces
There are some interesting churches, come la Church and Monastery of St. Francis is the Chiesa del Purgatorio but, Unfortunately, or they were closed or being restored. A pity, for tourists. 🙂
It is worth the walk, broadly, Joints Bastion Conca, Dating back to the '500, with Torre di Ligny, on the tip of the city.
IL “seafront” ranging from Conca Bastion Tower of Ligny.
verso le 17, after collecting the trolley deposited in the morning, I came back out of the central station of Trapani, and took the Segesta Bus that, after one hour, at the cost of 8 euro, arrives at the airport of Palermo.
I leave the’itinerary, in textual form, of my visit Trapani and Erice:
- Arrival around 8 (BlaBlaCar da Palermo)
- A 3 EUR, pose luggage from Orange tourist service in C.so Italy 42-44 (tel. 0923 364619) or Egatour in Via Admiral Staiti, 13 (tel. 0923 21754)
- bus 21 the 23 to the cable car station Trapani-Erice
- Visit the center of Erice and the Castle
- Back in downtown Trapani
- Via Giuseppe Garibaldi (beautiful pedestrianized street, onto which elegant palaces)
- Cathedral of S. lorenzo (In Old Town, along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, is the Duomo. It was built in 1421 at the behest of Prince Alfonso V of Aragon. It was amended several times, until 1801, and is in baroque and neoclassical)
- Chiesa del Purgatorio (It was built in the late '600 and early' 700, Baroque)
- Church and Monastery of St. Francis of Assisi (It located in the oldest part of the city, Adjacent to the old route of the wall. The main façade overlooks the homonymous square, that comprises three roads and one of the many walking trails that wind through the courtyards and the narrow passages of the "Casbha". It was built by Count Roger in Gothic-Norman. Originally dedicated to San Biagio, It changed its name in 1216, when the Beato Angelo of Rieti obtained from the King Frederick II in order to build a Franciscan monastery. in 1680 It is given a new look to the church, transformed in Baroque style according to the taste of bell tempo.Il, entirely of stone carving, above the floor of the bells it is crowned by a cornice balustrade, and concluded by a pyramidal roof, coated with ceramic tiles. The interior of the church with the exception of the apse is a whole of plastic decorations and paintings.)
- Bastion Conca (bastion of the '500, which it is next to a promenade overlooking the sea)
- Torre di Ligny (seventeenth-century tower, placed in the western end of the city. There is the museum of prehistory)
- Basilica-Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Annunziata (dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, built between 1300 and 1742. Houses the Madonna of Trapani, marble sculpture of the '300 attributed to Nino Pisano)
- 16:47-17:55 SEGESTA BUS-PMO TRAPANI AIRPORT (TP-MAZZINI / Umberto I – Via Mazzini (STOP SAU P.ZA Umberto I) – hours: 16:47 – PALERMO AIRPORT – P.LE ARRIVALS – hours: 17:55) – Call.ctr. 091 342525 – 091 342055 – 095 532716
Itinerary format google map: link
Backpacker, with bike in tow (I saw many cyclists who have risen to Erice, da bravo ciclista, I would have liked to do it), cableway, swim… It only has to make a visit to Erice and surroundings!