Had to find somewhere for breakfast on the waterfront & then set off for the bus station to find out how to get to Erice & to buy tickets. This done we tried to find out how to get to Palermo tomorrow on our way to Catania, a difficult exercise. We were told to get a bus from the nearby train station but eventually due to the help of a kindly lady we found the agent for the bus & were told that they run every 2 hours starting at 8am. Moving on we visited the sea front but weren't too impressed with the beach.

Caught the 11.30 bus to Erice, a little town on the top of a 750m hill reached by a winding road from Trapani with wonderful views over the surrounding countryside & the sea. It is a very ancient site of a fertility god later called Venus which was worshipped from pre Carthaginian times right through to the 4th century AD by the Romans. The town has an old Norman castle in the top corner & had city walls from the Punic times. Unfortunately none of the churches or the cathedral, were open to visit but we saw the castle & the small museum before it started to rain. We made it to a cafe & had a coffee waiting for the bus & then went early for the bus which was a stroke of luck, as it left before it was apparently due to. On the descent the rain poured down but it had stopped again before we got back to Trapani so again we were incredibly lucky.

After a rest we went looking for an internet cafe but although Jane could get a link d*** couldn’t. It poured again for 20 minutes & then we went off in search of some tea which we found in a cafe nearby. Returning back we went up a couple of very smart streets in the old quarter & then cut back through the alleys. We found a church open & went in & to our surprise a lady was giving an organ recital on what we later saw was a restored 7 keyboard organ designed for up to 3 players at once. The other surprise was that most of the audience was wearing motor cycle gear although they looked vintage bikers. The big church of St Peter was quite run down internally & its painted ceilings were all flaking away but the music was sublime. On leaving it we walked to the corner & found that we were less than 100m from our tiny apartment. What a day!!