Firstly – Kath is a legend.

We have just returned from a full day (8 hour) excursion to Segesta and Erice having walked over 9000 steps / 6 Km. Mostly on rocky ground. And at 90, she did it easily.

We met Michael T at 8am and he drove us through Palermo, heading westward to Segesta – 85Km. It took us exactly an hour.

We were the very first customers for the day at the Archaeological Park.

We had to walk up a rocky path to find the Doric Temple, which was started 500BC.

The weather was perfect.

The temple was never finished- so this is how it may have looked since then, minus the scaffolding.

We then caught a small bus up the hill to see the amphitheater which is still used today. It was built in the 3rd-2nd Century BC and is 63 metres in diameter. There were even some first class seats with back rests, made of stone of course.

Mick did a good job with this selfie capturing Kath in the background.

There were fabulous views from up here.

Our next stop was Erice, a medieval village perched almost one kilometre above sea level.

We decided not to go into the church as we’d seen enough yesterday. Instead we headed off to find the famous Pasticceria Grammatico run by an ex-nun who worked out she’d make more money from making fruits and cakes from almond paste / marzipan.

We bought a little takeaway pack and headed further up the main street to find somewhere for lunch.

We found a spot with a balcony looking out towards Tunisia, but we couldn’t see it.

We knew it was there though.

Kath and I had a glass of the Sicilian local red wine called Negro D’Avola. It is Shiraz like, and delicious. Mick was sorry he chose the local white, which is grown on this side of the island.

One of our waiters, Giuseppe, has an uncle who owns a restaurant in West Perth called Perugino. We will be there in September so we’ll look him up. 🤥

Michael T told us that the Sicilian flag, shown below has the colours of yellow on the left because white wine is produced on the west side of the island, and red wine is produced on the eastern side, where we head tomorrow. 🍷

After lunch we walked towards the castle and enjoyed the vistas.

Can you see the beautiful horse and his owner in this next photo. The man was playing the piano accordion.

We could clearly see the salt pans from here.

Michael T told us they go for more than 40Km and are still used today. He told us the word salary came from the word for salt (sale) as soldiers were paid in salt as it was so important in food preservation.

This was our car for the last two days. It was very comfortable indeed!

Once Michael T dropped us back at the Piazza Pretoria, we headed home to pack our bags and to enjoy sardines cooked by Mick which he bought at the Capo Markets yesterday – 8 for €2 and they were already filleted. They were delicious.

We catch a bus to Siracusa in the morning at 8am.