San Vito lo Capo

The weather was rainy in the morning but cleared in the afternoon on February 7. We made a road trip to San Vito lo Capo, which we could see from the mountain top city of Erice. We found the tourist office and inquired about a place to eat. The woman seemed doubtful we could find anything open. One waiter encouraged us toward his door but the  tourist prices were formidable--55 euro for the fish course alone! There were several empty trailer camps and large empty parking lots. A town so completely geared to tourists is a lonely place in the winter.

The caves on the bluff above the Gulf of Cofano are intriguing.  Above it is a roadside shrine which reportedly was built after a landslide buried the village that had been there. Inside the structure were lots of pebbles. People throw stones into the shrine to be freed from fear. I thought of other natural catastrophes where people are traumatized, like the tsunami in Thailand in 2004 or the earthquake that buried Gibelinna in the 60's. Truth be told, much of counseling for victims of terror amount to developing coping rituals like this.

Signs of anxient volcanic activity included the volcanic plug tower above San Vito lo Capo and the volanic dikes, like fences, angling down toward the village of Maraci. In this town also, we saw lots of shuttered hotels and only a few locals on the street. At the cafe we had the traditional deep fried rice balls, caled aransini. Mine was filled with beef meat with peas and Greg's had mozzarella and a little tomato. To this we added an antipasto of green olives, artichoke hearts and dried tomatoes all drenched in olive oil. It was all very tasty and only 6 euro.

In tourist fashion, we speculated about the rock formations on the beach below Maraci. There seemed to be a lot of crushed coral in the sand so I thought the formations could be what is left of a coral reef. Greg thought the petrofied shells in the rocks suggested a sudden event, like a volcanic lava flow. We found the weight from a fishing net, some dead sea urchins and the skelton of a fish with a very long bill. It was not a swordfish or a marlin, not a spearfish. I wonder if it was a piper fish or some type of eel? Seems unlikely but that is the nature of wandering and wondering with no one who knows to tell me any different...

In our effort to find the beach road that winds along the coast back to Trapani, we discovered the fishing village of Bonagia and Custonaci, which nestle beneath the impressive rock outcropping called Monte Cofano. What I like about travelling in Sicily in the winter is how little traffic there is. We have the luxury to wander wherever our noses point without thinking about heading back to work on Monday. It was a lovely relaxing day and I expect many more to follow.