The next port stop on our cruise was Trapani, Sicily. Here’s a recap of our visit to the Salt Museum, a winery, and Marsala.Check out my Explora II cruise post here.
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Trapani, Sicily
Sicily was near the top of our bucket list of places we wanted to visit on this trip. We almost did a week here instead of a cruise, but decided to try and see more instead. Thomas’s great great grandparents were Sicilian (where our Christmas pizza recipe comes from!) and so he was particularly interested in visiting. I am not kidding when I say that several of the locals we met had similar features to him (skin coloring, facial features), and during our walk around Marsala, we joked at how many “John Donne’s” (Thomas’s dad) we saw.
(I also started this book on the trip that takes place in Sicily both in olden times and modern times and highly recommend!)
Our ship docked in Trapani, which is on the western coast of Sicily. We have learned that a lot of the more touristy places are on the Eastern side (like Taormina where White Lotus was filmed) and Trapani was a bit more rustic. The climate was dry – almost desert-like! And aside from Monte Erice, it was fairly flat.
We booked a destination experience organized by Explora for this day that started with a visit to a salt museum, took us to a winery for lunch, and then ended with a tour of the town of Marsala.
Breakfast + a nice track walk before we disembarked!
Museo Del Sale
We were in a group of about 25 people for this tour, and we took a bus to the Museo Del Sale first.
We learned all about salt making and how salt used to be a primary currency for Sicilians. It was also back breaking labor to harvest and carry it out!
Old windmill pieces
Donna Franca
Our second stop was a drive to the Baglio Donna Franca winery, which is also a resort with guest rooms and has a restaurant. The family who owned the property was said to have introduced Marsala wine to the world. It is named for Franca Florio, a prominent figure in the family.
The Ansaldi farm produces organic bread and pasta with ancient grains from its own estate, and the wines are also organic. They don’t even use irrigation because the property is on a very special type of clay that holds water very well.
We got to tour the cellar and learn all about the history of Sicilian winemaking.
After our tour, we had a beautiful lunch in the restaurant. The wines were excellent!!
Gimme all the appetizers!!!
Loved the lemon preserves made on the property!
We had two kinds of pasta for the main course
Marsala
Our final stop on the tour was a visit to the town of Marsala. It was a little sleepy with many of the shops closed (perhaps because we were there mid-week?) but it was fun to see a smaller city.
There was a wedding happening in the church shortly after we arrived!
Lemon gelato all day, every day.
Fil Rouge
Back on Explora II, we rested and showered and had dinner at Fil Rouge, the French-themed restaurant.
I had a crab cake appetizer
Seabass in puff pastry
and a white chocolate tart!
(It’s crazy writing about this meal because I remember being too full to really enjoy it, but at this moment (11am on a Thursday), I would LOVE to eat these foods and drink that wine!!!)
