The wind here, which today is ‘fresh’ according to the BBC, but ‘brass monkeys’ in our parlance, is we learned at the Salt Museum yesterday, a constant feature all year round. People have harvested salt from the sea on the coastal plans between here and Marsala since the Phoenicians (800BC) and until recently this was all done by hand (during the hottest months of the year). High temperatures and wind are needed to vaporise the water.
Once again we had our own personal tour. Our guide, whose grandfather worked his way up from handing out drinks of water to the workers all the way to becoming the owner, made the visit extremely interesting. According to our guide, salt was taxed in Italy, but not Sicily, until 45 years ago. This led to people smuggling salt from Sicily to the mainland.
We had a view of the salt pans from Erice, a village perched on top of a lonely mountain, reached by following a long road of hairpin bends (there is a cable car, but it is closed at this time of year for maintenance).
Inhabited since the time of the Greeks, but only re-named ‘Erice’ by Mussolini, what you see now dates from medieval times. Bustling in the summer, but virtually deserted today, it was still good to wander round and take in the views.
And finally,
Tortoise Travel 