Castellamare - Scopello and Erice

We drove back to Castellammare del Golfo this morning to do a boat trip up the coast. We particularly wanted to see Scopello, and the Zingaro Reserve, which is the first protected reserve in Sicily, and one of the first in Europe.

Our boat was a small Catamaran - very comfortable, and there were only three other small groups of tourists on it -theee girls from Germany, two couples travelling together from New York, and another couple who kept to themselves - probably didn't speak much English.

Leaving Castellmmare del Golfo harbour...

Just out of the harbour was some really nice rock formations...

Anne and I spent a lot of time on the net of the Catamaran!

The boat went into a couple of caves. The water was beautiful.

Scopello - Arab tower, Normal Tower, Spanish Tower...

We fed the fish...

We stopped here and jumped off the boat for a swim. Our skipper came too and showed Anne and I a cave which we swam under a rock and came up into a grotto with a beach. It was amazing!

Anne swimming with the fish. I threw in a piece of food and accidently landed by Anne's neck. They were jumping all around her!

 Back to Scopello for another swim off the boat.

Sadly coming back into Castellammare and the end of our trip. I didn't want to get off the boat, could have had another day on it!

After the boat trip we drove up to Erice, a town on top of Mount Erice. There are two castles one dating back to the 10th century.

A small arab house at the bottom of the castle built in the 1900s. I popped my head in. High above were the castles. Very pleased was able to walk all uphill from the arab house to the castles without breaking stride, although I felt it in m backside!! 

The castle area gave us expansive views!

This one is the view over Trapani and the islands where we are heading tomorrow.

Sicilian Landsape!

We walked through the town - both Anne and I were hungry. We were looking for a particular type of pasta, but none had it. The town itself was pretty - I loved the cobblestones.

After no luck with pasta, we found a crowd outside a pastry shop, and found that Erice is famous for these, so we headed inside and Anne got a sampler for us to share..

We found the cathedral and it's tower. I popped inside - as I get in free. It actually was very beautiful, all carved. I too a panaroma with my phone to show Anne.

Back into the streets - the sun was started to set...

Another great day. Sicily is really beautiful.

The Southern Italy Coast

Today was our beach day. The day away from old towns, architecture, alleyways, churches, cathedrals. We packed our togs (swim gear for those that aren't kiwi's), and headed first to Otranto. What an utterly beautiful place...

We mistakenly only parked the car for one hour. Really, we shouldn't have gone any further than this...

Guess what we found? A castle, and another old town, AND a cathedral. And we couldn't resist the pull of history....

Though the view from the castle terrace was pretty cool. Look at the clarity of that water...

We wandered up and found the Cathedral...

Frescoes from 1577 lined the Cathedral walls...

And the floor was total mosaic.. Total!

The Ceiling was pretty interesting too.

And once again the crypt full of arches...

 We found the castle, and managed to get in free because of our hearing loss.  Steve McCurry - the photographer had a big exhibition there so we took a look.

Knowing our car was parked for only an hour, we didn't stay long inside the exhibition. So wandered around the castle itself. Huge terraces...

Outside the castle walls were beautiful whitewashed villas, also old...

And another terrace overlooking the marina...

Can't wait to use one or two of these for my laptop wallpaper!

Lots of little shops...

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And pasta shops.  I bought some for Anne but hope to get some more in Sicily to take home...

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Olive trees lined a square we walked though on the way back to the car...

And we found a pretty neat Gelato shops. Except I ended up not having any because they wouldn't serve me! They were too busy having a conversation between themselves! The sale walked out the door!

 

We set the GPS for the next town - Castro, but took off 'toll roads'. So we meandered through the real Italy back roads. Through huge Olive Tree plantations, farmland, old stone walls, little villages, crumbling buildings.  I stopped to take this image for a friend! Some of the trees were so old the trunks were twisted...

Traffic was slow at tines...

But we got there.  Castro is amazing. We didn't bother with the castle or old town high on the hill. We were there for the water. Crystal clear, green. Quite a few people swimming...

We decided to eat first. This restaurant looked expensive, but, it was anything but. Plus they filled our wine glasses full to the top! The view was amazing, we were out of the hot sun,and a nice sea breeze wafted through. After an incredible meal, we got changed into our togs and headed down the cliff for a swim... The water was a tad cool but very refreshing..

We didn't stay, but then drove to Porto Selvaggio. This is a national park and we walked through this forest down to a pebble beach and a rock formation which we swam at. I had a long swim. Lovely. We sat in the sun for a while, watching other swim, horses trotted by and there was an old roman guardhouse up on the outcrop as well. Forgot to take those photos on the phone - they're on my camera!

Last stop was Punta Proscuitto. Luxury Beach. Beautiful sandy beach. I had another swim here. The water was like a warm bath, and it was quite shallow for a long way out.

Our 'neighbours' on the beach had this gorgeous dog. Not sure what breed it was, but it was lovely.

We then headed back to our apartment in Lecce, sunkissed, and refreshed. Showered, then went out briefly to take a photo of the Cathedral at night. There was a photoshoot in progress - a wedding party I think.

The Southern Italian coast is beautiful. Of all he places I'd like to spend more time in Otranto and Castro. Stunning clear crystal waters.  All in all another great day in Italy!