Marsala Day 2

Started today with a chocolate and ricotta croissant.  A nice surprise to find ricotta cheese in a chocolate croissant.

Breakfast on the go

Cute friend along the way

Then we are off to take a tour to Mozia Island.  We did a boat tour around the Island which gave us some nice views of the island.  Originally we planned on walking the island, but the boat tour was a nice change.  The settlement on the Island is from 6th century BC.  One of the amazing things we saw was the road that is now underwater.  Also some great views of the salt pans and windmills.

Salt pans near Marsala

Co Captain catching a fish

Mozia Island

Marsala wine for breakfast

2 KM road to the mainland from 2600 years ago. 1 foot under water for horses to pull grapes wagons

Next we drove along the coast further to visit more of the salt pans.  Ron, Andre and I visit a salt museum while Nancy enjoyed some sun.  It was an interesting museum with a video that showed us how the salt is manufactured. Still using most of the techniques from generations ago, mostly manual work, in the very very hot sun.  At this time of year only the most outward pans are being filled, this starts in April, and the process is finished in September.

Photo of a photo of what the salt pans look like in season (Summer)

Salt mill

Getting ready for the season

They cover the hills of salt with tiles for the winter to finish drying

Small birds

To move water

We follow the costal road for a bit longer to Torre San Teodoro until we have had enough for the day.

Isola Grande

The beach we went for a short walk

Cute little flower, no more than 1 inch big

Grape everywhere in this region

Pile of salt

We decide to head back to the apartment in Marsala and get some lunch.  Lunch is at a little bar inside a courtyard with a nice fountain.  Ron is back in his own shoes, and is able to wash pretty much the rest of the "cement" off in the fountain water.

Arachini 

Octopus & potatoes. 

Fountain in the square

Next we explore Marsala some more, trying to find more ruins that are within the city in walking distance.  The ones we found are really not accessible, it is a shame that they are not being maintained, at one time a lot of money would have been put into getting them set up for viewing.

Roman ruins

More

Green seems like a popular dome colour

Back to the apartment for a break then Andre and I head out again.  I had read about a museum that has 8 huge hand stitched wool and silk tapestries depicting the capture of Jerusalem.  These tapestries were made in Belgium in the 16th century.

We also visited the Duomo while searching for the museum.

We also found another ruins that we had not seen yet, they are all over this city, and this one we could get down to, but the information boards were so faded we couldn't read much.

Duomo

Wooden cross from 1497

More ruins

This is about 18 inches high, just part of the bottom of the next photo

Off to pick up some Marsala wine to bring home.  We got to taste a few different types which is always fun, so now our liquor purchase is completed for going home.

Marsala wine explained

Large selection

Supper tonight was Rons choice.  We walked and walked using his directions to find the restaurant, we still don't know if it exists or not as we never found it.  Ended up eating in a restaurant not far from our apartment, that we had walked by about 1 hour earlier on our search for Rons restaurant.  A good meal, now it is time for bed.