May 15, 2023

May 15, 2023

The weatherman forecasted severe rainstorms for today. Unfortunately for us, he was correct. In response the government issued a Red alert for western Sicily and ordered the shutdown of schools and government facilities. That means no museums or archeological sites are open today and our touring plan is void. Even our hotel shutdown the breakfast buffet. We loaded our luggage onto the van in driving rain. With Plan A and Plan B shut down, we moved to plan C.

We drove south to the city of Marsala. The city's modern name comes from its Arabic period. It means Harbor of Allah. We were going to take a boat to the island of Mothia just offshore to see the ancient settlement of the Phoenicians. Instead we toured the Salt Museum. The western shore of Sicily is very shallow making the region ideal for the production of salt. It is probably why the Phoenicians built a trading colony here.

We watched a video of the salt-making process, then toured an old wooden mill, and finally climbed the stairs to an observation deck. This ancient process requires expansive flat ponds adjacent to the sea in a sunny dry climate. The primary ponds are filled by tidal surges. After initial evaporation, the brine is pumped using windmills and Archimedes Screws to higher ponds where further evaporation precipitates impurities. Another series of ponds continue the evaporation until the salt begins to crystallize. Mother Nature does much of the initial work. After that, significant manpower is required to loosen the salt so the brine can drain away, and the crystals shoveled into piles for drying and transportation. A small quantity of very pure 'Flower of Salt' can also be skimmed off the surface of the brine ponds.

Besides salt, the city is also famous for Marsala Wine. This is a fortified wine similar to Port and Sherry. We visit a winery to learn about wine making in Sicily. Fortified wine was derived from a local practice of making Perpetual Wine. Many locals would keep a barrel of wine for personal consumption, adding to it every year. Over time water would evaporate from the barrel increasing the alcohol content.

After touring the winery, we sat down for a tasting and light lunch of Sicilian snacks. Besides Cheese, Olives, Marcona Almonds, and Bruschetta, we had Caponata. This is eggplant in a sweet and sour sauce. Quite tasty.

From Marsala we drove east across the interior of Sicily. It is almost all rural and full of farm fields. Surprisingly for a poor region, the roadway has many mountain tunnels and raised viaducts. Sicilian highways were expensive to construct.

Because of the weather and government edict, we bypassed Selinunte, the largest archeological site in Europe. It was one of the most important Greek colonies in Sicily 2500 years ago. Fortunately we saw the most important relics of Selinunte in the Palermo Museum a few days ago.

Near the end of the day, we made a brief stop to see the Turkish Steps on the southern coast. Here the easily eroded white limestone cliffs have been transformed into a beautiful staircase of rock.

We finished the day in Agrigento where we checked into our Baglio, or Fortified Farmhouse accommodation. In olden days, even farmhouses had to worry about being attacked. Especially those near the coast who were vulnerable to Barbary pirates. Tunisia is only a hundred miles away.

We had dinner in their dining room. It was outstanding. We started with a Zucchini appetizer followed by two portions of a Sweet Potato pasta dish. For dessert we shared a decadent Pistachio Parfait. I also ordered an after-dinner glass of Marsala wine. As expected, it tasted like Sherry.