Southern Sicily, Agrigento

Friday October 24, 2008

With plans all made for a trip to Siracusa on the east coast, we watched the morning weather report (not to be confused with last night’s forecast) and found that rain was predicted for that area, so, ever adaptable, we headed south today. (The weather report is something we can understand, since we are familiar with the icons for sun, clouds, and rain and the words for the days of the week)

The trip was a ride down the center of Sicily, which was quite nice. The island is quite hilly and mountainous, with many farms but few trees. Agrigento was founded by the Greeks in about 800 BC and at times ruled by Carthage, Rome, the Saracens, Normans, French, and Spanish. The attraction there is the Valley of the Temples, the remains of several Greek temples, one of which is among the best preserved in the world. It was a warm, very sunny day so we took it easy walking around the archeological park and grabbed whatever shade we could. As always, things were poorly marked and usually only in Italian but this time we were smart enough to purchase the audio guides before starting.

We enjoyed a farewell dinner on the patio at a seaside restaurant with our cousins, as they will be returning to London tomorrow.

Tom and Mel