Sicily & Algeria

May 21 – May 22

After leaving Albania, things got a bit wacky.  We were due to go next to Tunisia, but the country was being hit by massive flooding and severe winds forcing us to cancel.  This meant missing out on one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world at a site called Thyrsus.  Instead of Tunisia, we did a quickly prepared visit to Sicily.  We were then forced to cancel a visit to The Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex located in Granada Spain on the Mediterranean so we could get to Lisbon before the start of a port strike.  The Alhambra Palace is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world. Maybe we will be back some day. 

Given the changes, this blog segment is focused only our visits to Erice in Sicily and Djémila in Algeria.  The next segment will start with Lisbon and cover our specific visits there and the western coast of Spain and France.

Sicily

Sicily sits in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian mainland and is the largest island in the Mediterranean. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world.

The view from the ship as we approach the port of Trapani.

Our designated tour here was a visit to the old city of Erice.  I was a bit under the weather, so Eva went alone and took some lovely photos.  Erice is a fortified medieval village that towers over Sicily at 2500 feet above sea level that overlooks the port city of Trapani where we were docked, at the northern tip of the western coast of Sicily.  Erice has passed from the Elymian people through to the Phoenicians, the Spartans, the Romans, and the Normans and many of the buildings from over 3000 years ago are still standing.  The remains of two castles still dominate the landscape of the city.

A view back towards the port of Trapani from Erice
Note the common placement of the fortress high on a rock overlooking the water. It is no wonder that many of these have withstood a number of invasions by various armies over centuries.
We have had the privilege of visiting many of these ancient walled cities and they are all so quaint and picturesque. Living there hundreds of years ago was likely not as nice.
Look at the stone design for the street and the wooden shutters against the stone walls.
Eva’s nice composition of one of the castles through the trees.
This tower seems more modern. Not sure of the specifics here.
Note the cat at the bottom

Algeria

We left the ship later than expected due to a delay with Algerian customs, which was not totally surprising.  Apparently, the day before in the first Algerian port we visited, they came on board late and arrived with no less than 27 customs officials, most likely just curious about what was on board.  Many of these officials were apparently seeing a cruise ship for the first time.

The man in the middle is Captain Kosta navigating the ship into the port from the bridge. Many of these ports require a pilot ship to help us stay in the deeper waters and get into tight spaces.

Djémila

Under the name of Cuicul, the city was built 3,000 ft above sea level during the 1st century AD as a Roman military garrison situated on a narrow triangular plateau at the confluence of two rivers. The city was initially populated by a colony of Roman soldiers from Italy, and eventually grew to become a large trading market.

The city was slowly abandoned after the fall of the Roman Empire around the 5th century and 6th century.  Muslims later dominated the region, but did not reoccupy the site of Cuicul, which they renamed Djémila (“beautiful” in Arabic). In 1982, Djémila became a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its unique adaptation of Roman architecture to a mountain environment.

Significant buildings include a theatre, forum, temples, basilicas, arches, streets, and houses. The exceptionally well preserved ruins surround a large, paved square with an entry marked by a majestic arch.

There is a small museum here that includes a model of the city as it remains now.

These are samples of the many incredibly well-preserved tile mosaics from floors that they discovered here.

The detail and the colors are just amazing. There are thousands of small tiles in this one alone.

A really well-preserved statue head of the Roman emperor in the late 2nd century.
Compared to some other places with ancient ruins, the setting for this city really adds to the vibe here. Also, very little development beside it as much of it has a single owner.

One of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world.
Speakers would stand behind this podium to address the crowds in a large open square.
This was the entrance to the brothel. I think it speaks for itself.
Storks are native here. They are huge birds.
This nest was about 100 feet in the air at the top of a tree.

That’s it for this segment. On to Portugal, Spain and France.