Day 8 - Agrigento

Agrigento is a town on the southern coast of Sicily, approximately two hours from our house in Acireale. It is the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas, one of the leading cities during the golden age of Ancient Greece. It was founded around 580 BC, was sacked by the Carthaginians around 406 BC and, afterwards, never really recovered its former status.

The trip to Agrigento took us through some varied countryside though we were always in view of mountains. Cities were perched on the top of mountains or crouched at their feet like the family dog. I had not expected an island sitting in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea to have such a dry climate. But it actually reminded me more of southern California in the summer with it's brown hills and green only where people had planted things. (Sharon said it reminded her of central Texas.) And so with the hills to block moisture laden air, the results were the somewhat arid land around us.

Our visit was primarily to view the ruins of the Valle dei Templi (the Valley of the Temples) declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It comprises a total of 1300 hectares (or approximately 3200 acres), While the site encompasses six temple sights we were only able to see two of them - the Tempio della Concordia (the Temple of Concordia) and the Tempio di Giunone (the Temple of Juno).

As we entered the facility, we first saw the Temple of Juno perched upon the hill. We then turned down a broad avenue to find the Temple of Concordia rising above the trees. We opted to take the walk to Concordia first and discovered the ruins of buildings lining the street along the way. Physically, both temples were similar in design to the Parthenon and, of course, its excellent reproduction in Nashville. While much of Concordia still stands, many of the others, including Juno, have only some of the outer and inner columns but no roof. At Concordia, we found another bronze statue, this one of winged Icarus who tried to fly to the sun, but was cast down by its heat. He also is without arms or legs, though he retains his head.

On the return, I climbed the hill to the Juno temple which I found with about half of its columns still standing. From its location, it overlooked the broad valley below.

As the morning temperature and number of tourists rose, we decided to take leave of the Valley of the Temples. Actually, the so called valley sits atop a hill overlooking the countryside. I am yet to find a reason for referring to it as a valley.

Returning to the car, we proceeded along the southern road that parallels the coast to the town of Gela and then cut back northeast to Catania and Acireale. We had discussed heading on eastward to Syracuse, another settlement of ancient Greece and home to one of history's greatest mathematicians, Archimedes. However, the heat and the walking had taken it's toll and we opted to return to Acireale. Along the way we stopped for lunch where I had an excellent plate of grilled prawns. (Being Sunday we found very few options for eating, as many restaurants did not open until dinner, if at all. Obviously, this was a country of few Baptists.)

Having eaten the large lunch, we opted that night to visit the local grocery and pick up a selection of meat and cheeses (and wine of course) for dinner. This satisfied our remaining appetites and, at least for me, I slept well.