Big road trip to Marsala, known as Lilybaeum to the Carthaginians in antiquity. And the general location of the final battle of the First Punic War (Rome against Carthage). It was a sea battle with the Romans as victors. The Romans had shown their persistence after having their first two very large fleets destroyed by the more experienced Carthaginians sailors earlier in the war over the control of Sicily. The year was 241 and through the ingenious use of a corvus the poor seamanship of the Romans was less of a factor. Hannibal's father (Hamilcar Barca) was commander of the land forces and was livid when the home city of Carthage sued for peace.

In 1971 a Punic (the Roman word for a Phoenician which is where the Carthaginians originally descended from) warship was found complete with many amphoras containing the ship's stores. The contents gave historians an idea of the types of cargo used as trade, what the crew ate along with a cannabis concoction used as a stimulant for the rowers.

Of course the fortified wines of Marsala are famous. Jim tried a number of the younger sweeter Marsalas and found them not to his liking. Moving on the older vintages of 10-20 years...still too sweet for him. And finally a number for the very expensive 30 year old Marsalas. Still too sweet for him. We were all very impressed with Jim's due diligence. He tried all the vintages, multiple years and multiple times. If there was a Marsala to his liking he would have found it. He had to helped back to the car.


Passing the Valle dei Templi on the ride home we caught the full moon over one them (there are seven well preserved temples here, wonderfully preserved). A long day on the road with some history, great scenery, old architecture, fine dining and good friends.

Dean, Crew, Olga, Jim on board Necessity in Marina di Cala del Sole