The Egadi Islands weren’t a planned stop, Schengen time was ticking, and we needed to move on. It was 20 miles to Trapani on the mainland, easy enough in a few hours. Trip had wondered aloud about stopping in other islands along the way, but I said it wasn’t worth it. I looked up the port of Favignana in a cruising app on the tablet as we were passing it to prove my point. Except the reviews were – awesome. Charming little town, anchorage right in the middle of everything, great place to be. Damnit! Trip didn’t need asking twice when I told him to bear to starboard.
We managed to snag the last best spot in the anchorage. You can’t anchor too far out as the ferries need room to turn and one in particular has to drop an anchor to moor (I was VERY anxious watching him drop his anchor not far from us, but it all worked out as winds were light). But my absolute favorite ferries to watch were the hydrofoil hi-speed ferries. Every skipper had a different technique for coming in and out of the harbor, but my favorite skipper would spin the boat on a dime at high speed with his twin jet engines (this from someone who travels on a boat at 5 knots most days). It was so fun to watch; that and all the other boats coming in and jostling for position at the docks. Italians do not have much of a concept of personal space and it’s amazing to watch them move.
We raced across the harbor and found a questionable place to leave the dinghy (Italy and the neverending search for a dinghy dock). No one spoke English, but I was able to confirm in French that we should be ok. Then we raced across town (10 minute walk) to the tuna museum that we had read about….only to find that it closed as we arrived (Google maps said it was open for another hour). We consoled ourselves with a drink and some bruschetta on the beach with live music watching the sun set.
We wandered back through town, amazed at how big it was (then again anything is big compared to Maritemmo where we just were). An impressive number of restaurants and bars. A cat sprawled in front of a little fast food restaurant helped us pick. I had a huge tuna sandwich for dinner and Trip a sausage sandwich. I slipped scraps to the cat periodically (he was not impressed with the lettuce Trip tried feeding him).
We wandered a bit more after dinner and then stopped for the requisite ice cream and coffee. Trip looked over at the ‘sundae’ that a gentleman was eating and asked what it was. Neither of us understood what he was saying, but he definitely indicated that it was wonderful. When the waiter came out, that gentleman ordered for us. It turns out it was scoops of vanilla and hazelnut ice cream over brioche bread soaked in rum. I do not understand why the Italians love their ice cream with brioche (you can get it as an ice cream sandwich too), but I’m not complaining.
We agreed that we would not leave immediately the next day and instead came back to town for the tuna museum, which was absolutely worth the visit. The moors taught the local Egadi fisherman a very complicated technique and system of nets to funnel and trap multiple tuna. We watched videos from the 1920’s of the process of rowing out, dropping nets, hauling them back up, hauling the tuna, and later processing and canning the fish. It was a gruesome process, but probably employed the entire island and I’m glad the museum is there to remember the history.
The other part of the museum was dedicated to Egadi’s history, and included artifacts that have been found on the seabed. The most remarkable of those are multiple bronze ramming tips from Roman galleys that sailed the waters 3rd century BC. Along with the rams, we watched videos showing offensive and defensive maneuvers that ships would use in battle. These islands were the scene of the battle between the Romans and the Carthaginians ending the first Punic War with the Romans on the winning side (the Romans won Sicily).
Recent Comments