The last walk of the year - Trappeto

12/22 - Sferracavallo to Trappeto - 22.01
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This day marked my first sighting of a sign pointing to Trapani, and I was absolutely giddy with the thought of being so near the end. 99 kilometers, it read, three days if I raced to the finish, but as it was already the 22nd and Christmas was two days away, I knew I would get to take my time.

So I did just that, strolling down the road and watching as the fast-paced buzz of outer Palermo calmed to roadside retail, then small-town speed, and finally the malaise of semi-rural gardens and pastures. After a trip to buy a bag full of pastries, a must-do as I was leaving the confines of Palermo and had no idea when I'd be back again, I pigged out on the bready sweets on a small mound in the middle of an empty plot of land. Lunch spots spring up in various shapes and sizes.

The rest of the walk was through farmland, olive and orange groves, horse pastures, and a sprinkling of houses, all set against the backdrop of mountains rising dramatically from the sea, blocking off Palermo from the rest of Sicily. I saw one of my favorite pastoral landscapes of the trip, beautiful in its tranquil simplicity, and when the sun fell, I found myself in the town of Trappeto.

A few quick phone calls gave me the idea of what a room cost, but when none of them satisfied me, I walked into a seaside restaurant, made a deal with the owner that included dinner, and headed up to my room for a nap. All that strolling makes a soul tired, you know.

My dinner was simply delicious, a seafood based feast which included a devouring of an entire fish, eyeballs and all, for the second course. The owner took a shining to me, so the wine was self-serve, and I had a giant plate of fruit set before me to finish the meal. They really do know how to set a delicious table, these Sicilians. It is completely different from what Americans consider Italian food, and as such answers the classic American question about Italy: "How could you eat the same ethnic food every day?!" The answer: you could prepare a different Italian dinner every day for a year and never eat the same thing twice, and your health would improve dramatically, to boot.