Agrigento

Afternoon at Valle dei Templi


First, breakfast and another spin around Ragusa, then on to Agrigento!


Ibla through the arch to which I made the guys walk and walk to find for this shot. “Oh. It’s literally just an arch in a wall,” said Nikos. “I thought it was going to be something special”. Anyway; I like the photo.

Nikos/goat

San Giuseppe church detail 

Breakfast room

Ragusa Ibla 

Breakfast 

Duct tape fixes everything 

Small snack before a big drive

Ragusa street

Pride flag, Catholic Church

Nikos and mural

Door

Bell tower

View of Ragusa Ibla 

Stream toward timpane 

Mural

View from rooftop patio of our hotel room

Fountain detail

Itria Palace Hotel

Santa Maria delle Scale

DIY job

Santa Maria Dell’Itria

Field trip to San Giorgio 

Businessman on way to work 

Duomo from back

Ragusa hillside

Overlook

Daily street vendor 

Conversation Club

AGRIGENTO:
The trip to Agrigento was a bit long from Ragusa; about 2.5 hours. We needed to stop halfway for un caffe.

Lori, at least it’s pronounced correctly 

Nikos, who has built-in GPS, guided us in. Francesco met us, introducing us to the B&B and his cats.

Reception

Office cat

Cat watching a lizard

After freshening up from that long, sweaty car ride, it was time to see some Greek temples at Valle dei Templi.

On the way there, a car cut us off so fast, Joe slammed on the brakes. They curved in front of us, then suddenly their car stopped. Joe started laughing. “Look at this; I think the driver just got fired”. A woman got out of the driver’s side, a man out of the passenger’s side, and they switched spots; the man giving a nod to Joe before he got behind the wheel and drove away. We’re pretty sure this was all for Joe’s benefit.

At the Valle dei Templi, the hoardes had left, and sunset wedding venues were being set up. We hit the perfect window of time.



From “Along Dusty Roads”:

So, in a nutshell, why are there lots of Greek temples in Sicily? And why are they all conveniently in one place?

Various coastal areas of southern Italy were once colonies of the city-states of ancient Greece; collectively, these were known as Magna Graecia (or Great Greece). Culturally and linguistically, they were shaped and reflected the Greeks.

In Sicily, the city of Akragas was founded as a colony in the 6th century BC and developed to become “one of the leading cities in the Mediterranean world”. Its prosperous and pivotal status as the third-largest city within Magana Graecia, according to UNESCO, was clearly demonstrated by the cluster of light honey-coloured Doric temples which dominated Akragas.

Though Akragas is now Agrigento and the Greeks are long gone, it is the extensive remains of their grand 4th and 5th century BC temples which now fall under the umbrella of ‘The Valley of The Temples’.

Not only are the temples tangible testaments to the golden age of the Greeks in Sicily, but they are some of the finest, best preserved examples of the style outside of Greece itself. Indeed, for some, the complex of eight temples comes second only to the Athens’ Acropolis.


Temple of Hera/Juno




Temple gardens

Greek on Greek (Scavi di icona D. Nicola)

Sea view

Goats control the invasive plants

Zeus cariatide



Nikos took his own path—there’s only one way in/out to the parking lot, so I didn’t worry we’d never find each other—and he can climb like a goat with those bicyclist’s calves. I, wearing a sundress (because it’s hot), can hike it pretty well, but it’s nice to get a hand when stepping down from some of the huge rocks. Joe was leaps ahead of me, but a very nice Frenchman looked back and saw my struggle. He took my left hand and right elbow, then, boom—my two feet were on the ground, ready to keep trekking. Merci, Monsieur!

Temple of Concordia

Gated wall

Temple of Castore e Polluce

Scavi and tree


Having seen all of the massive temple grounds and the beginning of two weddings, we were ready to leave. We got back to the B&B, changed clothes, and went to Ruga Reali for dinner. We were famished! And the place got very busy once we arrived.

To remind us we HAD sarde beccafico with arancia for our antipasto 

Yes; I fed her. She begged, and she’s pregnant.

Tagliatelle 

Paccheri with red shrimp and pistachio 

Sea bream with pistachio 

Tuna steak
Our dinner was amazing, and we didn’t want the night to end once we left the restaurant. We stopped for a nightcap at a bar called Farmacia (Nikos joked that there’s no green cross), where we were directed to an upper patio which looks more like a dressed-up corner of a parking lot. The guys had Oban while I had another prosecco. Two English or French bulldogs were with a guy next to us, and wanted our potato chips. We got to talking with this group of friends, Anna, Tirone, and another guy whose name I can’t remember. They’re all around Nikos’s age. Subtly, they asked us, are we tired? Are we turning in for the night? Because they were very happy to take Nikos under their wing and stay out a bit longer. Nikos said, “Even if I don’t speak Italian?” But their English was good. And I know he’s 24, but I didn’t sleep until I got his text saying that he was safely back, around 1:30 a.m.

Alley

Patio/parking lot art

Ruga Reali exterior 

B&B courtyard 


Now I’m sleeping fast, since daylight is just around the corner. 


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