ItaliaDay 5 - Trapani

After 2 days in busy Palermo it was a relief to get to the (relatively) quiet Trapani. We were lucky enough to score a room in a beautiful apartment in Quartiere Antico. Our room had these cute twin beds.

Plus french doors leading out to a small balcony. This is the view down the laneway - there didn't seem to be many other tourists staying in the immediate area, which made it feel very authentic. Though I wasn't so happy about the authenticity when I was woken in the middle of the night by the loud Italian neighbours & their scooters.

We spent most of the afternoon wandering around the winding streets. Some have been pedestrianised, and it was just lovely to have the time to focus on the architecture & beauty of the city, without worrying about being wiped out by the traffic. There were dozens of churches and monuments, unfortunately I don't know the name of these.

Eventually we were drawn to the beach. This photo doesn't do justice to the bright acquamarine colour of the water. When you look at the narrow strip of sand, you really appreciate how lucky we are in Australia to have our white sand beaches.

Many people were hanging out in their boats, but these three were empty & lined up perfectly.

Down the 'sickle' end of the city we found this garden planted behind the beach - a lovely spot to relax.

The view back along the waterfront.

On the opposite side of the town is the harbour. Trapani is still very much a working fishing village.

There are monuments to Giuseppe Garabaldi all over Sicily. I liked the lion roaring on this one - it is holding a shield saying 'Liberte'.

The first church we visited in Trapani was the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo.

The inside was all understated elegance, but did have some beautiful frescos on the ceiling.

The second church was under scaffolding, but we weren't there to admire the architecture. Chiesa del Purgatorio houses the Misteri di Trapani. These 20 life-sized sculptures are hundreds of years old and depict the Passions of Christ. Every Easter they are paraded through town, I can only imagine how amazing that would be to see. Here are just a couple.

The detail blew me away.

We headed out later in the evening to watch Passeggio - when the locals come out to walk the streets. This building is typical of Trapani.

Trapani's old city is much cleaner than Palermo. There are lots of tourists here, but equally as many locals, which meant we could still find authentic experiences. We only got to spend a couple of hours at the beach, but you could easily spend a few days here relaxing.