We made to the mainland (?) of Sicily! Trapani is our first stop as we visit the north shore of the island. We did the usual dance of trying to find a place to tie up the dinghy and leave our trash, and then headed off to the Guardia Coasteria to get our consituto stamped. The comedy of errors this time was caused by us. In an effort to lighten our load, especially in the heat, Trip didn’t bring the entire boat binder and instead only brought the boat documentation and constituto (which was all that was asked for before). This Coast Guard also needed the boat insurance papers and our passports, but was kind enough to allow us to come back the next day with all the paperwork. (Which turned out to be a bit of a mistake, and round two at the Coast Guard included almost no English being spoken and lots of waiting while they discussed who knows what).

A Trapani street

Town was an interesting mix of formal churches dropped here and there, old walls from the moorish reign, and lots of fun restaurants and bars.

Trapani cats

We stopped at a bar by the beach and had fun sipping artisanal beer and listening to old classic Italian songs, including Tu Vuo Fa L’Americano, sampled over and over again (Talented Mr Ripley, Brian Setzer Orchestra, and even Pitbull). We tried to buy a tshirt from the bar, but they only had smalls (Trip’s tshirts are finally succumbing to the heat and sweat and salt and UV rays), so he treated himself to a bottle of nice sipping rum instead. We came upon another wedding photo session with a car (yup, Saturday), but this one wasn’t as charming as the one in Sardinia.

Of course we’re in Sicily – land of the Testa di Moro myth – and the porcelain heads are everywhere, and very recognizable thanks to season 2 of The White Lotus. They’re quite ugly in my opinion, but who knows – I may have to pick one up after all.

Testa di Moro

Dinner was at a small place on the waterfront by the marinas. Trip had pasta with pesto alla trapanese – pesto very loosely chopped with almonds (instead of pine nuts) and tomatoes. I had the famous couscous with seafood – topped with shrimp, squid, and other mysterious chopped and fried bits. The wine here is very peppery (I miss the smoothness of the cannounou grapes in Sardinia), but we enjoyed dinner immensely.