6th Feb: Erice

Erice is a medieval town on the west side of Sicily. My Rough Guide tells me it was founded by the Elymnians, whoever they were, when they settled in this part of Sicily, well before the Greeks appeared, in about 1200 BC. They originally called it Eryx, and I was disappointed not to find an Eryx Bar in the town. You know, as in Eric and Ernie.

Some of the early town walls from 800 BC are still standing, in remarkably good fettle; they’ll outlast the cars, that’s for sure.

The site was chosen for its fortress qualities. It’s on a table-top mountain 2,350 feet high. I should be reporting that the road up was a scary switchback, but it was really very good, twisty of course, but quite wide and well surfaced with barriers. I don’t think Jane had to shut her eyes once.

This is a view from the town looking down over the regional capital Trapani and the Egadi islands. On a clear day you can see Tunisia over 100 miles away. We didn't feel like waving anyway.

The position looks impregnable, but it was conquered in succession by all the invading powers of the day, the Romans, the Arabs, and the Normans. I was surprised to learn how much of Sicily the Normans ruled. This was a boom era for Erice, the Middle Ages, after which not a lot happened so it’s stayed in that time warp until present times. So we have a Norman Castle very much like those at home, looking down from a lofty crag on one edge of the town.

The Norman cathedral is also a familiar type, so instead of a photo of the building, I’ve put in a close-up of its unusual rose window. It’s a wonderfully intricate stone carving of a circle of what appears to be carpet beaters. The Normans may have been savage warriors and tyrannical overlords, but they clearly valued clean carpets!

The guide book says to just wander around the town, there’s no specific route. So we did, and this is a typical sort of alley. The whole town is paved in these medieval cobbles that we saw workmen painstakingly repairing so as to keep the traditional look.

There are 60 churches in Erice. This is just one that we came upon with a pretty bell tower.

I suppose Erice leaves two distinct impressions, firstly, the medieval feel of the place as it’s mostly all of that period and, secondly, the fantastic views in all directions. As well as the big vistas, looking over the edge sometimes shows a precarious church, or fairy-tale castle built on a pinnacle as in the next photo.

The ascent/ descent took us 20 minutes each way in the car for the 8 mile journey, so it doesn’t bear thinking about how arduous this must have been in ancient times. There’s even a cable car up from Trapani now, but closed during the winter.