Trapani, and Expectations...

Expectations are funny things. Sometimes you don't even realize that you have them. 

When you travel as a tourist, you expect to see the sites, eat the food, take a lot of photos, and come home with your memories. But when you travel with the goal of exploring your roots? You have all those same expectations and do all those things, but there is something more, another element added.

For me, it's a yearning to see life here in Sicily beyond the glimpses that tourism allows and I am finding that difficult. I can't express myself in the language. Also, I am not even sure that what I am looking for still exists -- the Sicily of 110 years ago when my grandparents lived here? A simpler Sicily? A more real Sicily, without the veneer of tourism? Family dinners around the table from movies I've seen? Paul and I were talking about it the other day and he said it well: "It's hard to find where the real is." 

There is also some sense of disappointment for me. I think I expected to feel a kind of kinship with the people here, to feel "embraced as a fellow Sicilian." It sounds very naive to me now. Instead, especially here in Trapani as I write this, I feel that the locals are mostly impatient with my stumbling Italian, not friendly, and somewhat suspicious when we say buon giorno to them on the street. We have gotten so used to Mexico where it's common to smile and greet passersby and to say  "provecho" (enjoy your food!) to other diners as you leave a restaurant. It's easier to be friendly with other tourists than with the locals. Maybe that's normal as people are busily going about their daily lives and we're just two more tourists descending on their city. 

That being said, Trapani is a beautiful city with cobblestone streets. We stayed in the historic center, near the port.

There were lots of seafood dishes on the menus and I was able to try the cous cous with fish that they are known for. Though it was delicious, it didn't really taste like what I remember eating as a child.

The highlight for both of us, though, was our excursion by cable car to the nearby medieval mountain village of Erice, best described, I think, in photos:

A monument to a mayor of Erice assassinated by the Mafia in 1922

One of the churches in the village

"IDDA" and "IDDU" are Sicilian dialect terms for "she" and "he," respectively, inspired by the love story of a Moorish king and his Sicilian queen. 

They can be seen in ceramics all over Sicily.

Ceramic Trinacrias (symbol of Sicily)

Cute tiny life-like kitties in baskets for sale

One of the gift shop kitties (not for sale) This gift shop owner had seven. Here's another one:

And one more:

The cable car ride from Trapani to Erice and back