West coast Sicily Day 10 Saline Mozia Stagnone

After two very busy days we get off to a slower start and stroll through Trapani to the fish market to stock up for another couple of days. It's Wednesday so there's more choice and we stop to chat to the same fishmonger as two days before, he gives me detailed instructions as to when to salt the fish when frying, the addition of a little vinegar, we talk about recipes. With dinner safely in the fridge and armed with our usual picnic we pick up the Ford Fiesta and turn towards the Salt pans. This is also a place we have visited before, including the very interesting museum, so this time we park near the road and walk among the salt pans which vary also in colour according to the concentration of salt, even to a brown-red colour. It's a fascinating environment for the calm surfaces of water, the birdlife, the impressive windmills which used to be used for pumping water and salt milling, the immense heaps of salt. 

In the background the view of the old houses of Trapani is interrupted by an enormous and brightly coloured cruise ship surreally intruding. 

We walk for over an hour along the dirt road which winds in among the salt pans, also stopping to watch some of the work going on. The sun is really quite hot and by the time we get back to the car we are hot, hungry and thirsty. We drive just a little way down the coast and then turn towards the sea. A quiet back road takes us to the beach among private houses which are right on the sea. It's easy to park and find a quiet spot for our picnic. I don't swim - there's quite a lot of seaweed and I'm too hungry to delay lunch any longer.

After a walk along the beach and back, further along the sea is really quite enticing, we go back to the car and drive to the Mozia Saline. This is a private area where the saline have been conserved and improved also for tourist visits so it has a more artificial feel than the working saline near Trapani. Nevertheless you can walk around and have a look without paying anything and the windmill and other buildings in pale apricot colour, the big piles of salt and the reflection of the sky in the salt pans make it a very pretty place and well worth a visit. 

Next we drive to  the Reserve of the Lagoon of Stagnone di Marsala, once again it's easy to park and we walk along the waterside. The  "Stagnone" is a lagoon which is situated between Punta Alga and San Teodoro and also includes four islands: Mozia, Isola Grande or Lunga, Schola and Santa Maria. It is a special place because it is the largest lagoon in Sicily and is characterized by very shallow water, from 1 to 2 meters and in some places no more than 20-30 cm. The Stagnone Nature Reserve extends from the north coast of Marsala as far as Trapani. The area is also a small paradise for bird-watching  since at certain times of the year, different species of migratory birds, including white or pink flamingos, nest here or stop during their migration. On this balmy October afternoon the main attraction consists in watching the kitesurfers. Since the water is so shallow it is an ideal place for them to learn. 

We walk a while, it's an unusual place with the pleasant breeze and shallow water and Isola Grande in the background. The sun is getting lower in the sky and the shadows are lengthening. We head back to the car and Trapani, where we are rewarded by another spectacular sunset.