Docked in Trapani, Sicily

Saturday, 14 May 2011. We arrived back at the Thomson Destiny around lunchtime following our visit to Segesta, covered in my last entry.

We couldn't have been moored any closer to the town. I took these photos from the Promenade Deck - Deck 7, which meant looking down on the roofs of all but the highest buildings.

A wide boulevard ran along the side of the ship with some fine civic buildings, a tree-lined walk with sculpted trees and a statue of Grimaldi in a square between a park and the trees.

I dug out the sketch pad - for the first time this year - and spent around half an hour sketching the view over the side of the ship. As always this activity led to a few new acquaintances and conversations, though equally many people just look over the shoulder without disturbing me. Quite a few from the comments I got the following day!

"What happens if we sail before you finish?" someone asked. "Well I count the windows and as long as I draw the detail of one I know to add another seven in the row..." I said. He didn't seem at all impressed by this!

Six o'clock came and officials and dockside workers gathered to cast off mooring ropes and wave up at the passengers watching from the ship's rails.

I always enjoy watching a ship glide out from the mooring and then inch its way forward and out of a harbour. A chance to cast an eye over other ships and ferries docked in port and then to escape out of the wind that inevitably picks up as the ship leaves the harbour for the open sea.

Tonight will be an enjoyable meal and watching the show in the Can-Can Show Lounge. After that, we'll see. We had found a nice bar called the Clipper Bar which had a nautical theme and live entertainment from a trio. Tomorrow we will visit Italy and have booked an excursion to Herculaneum, the Roman city, buried for centuries by the volcanic mud flowing from the same eruption of Vesuvius that devastated Pompeii. We'll have a look at it in the next entry.

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