Valle dei Templi

Valle dei Templi - 11 Luglio 2016

P-day fun to the Valle dei Templi in Agrigento. Sorella Anderson and Sorella Keglovitz asked/invited/hoped we would go with them to Agrigento and visit the Greek Temples there. The invite came on Sunday and I said most likely but let me talk with Craig. When I said yes, I had no clue that Agrigento was on the other side of the island. They thought it was a 1 ½ hour bus ride but I am sure it would have been longer because it was a 2 hour car ride.

Palermo is on the north side of the island of Sicily and Agrigento is on the south side. So now we have been on the north, south, and east side – Catania when we met Presidente and Sorella Pickerd. I have seen the Mediterranean from all those sides. Before our 18 months is up I am sure I will see the west side of Sicily too. Although Craig informed me that Sicily is more like a triangle.

We did a lot of walking and wandering at the Valle dei Templi today. It was 5 km down and back, and we could have seen more but it was time to head home. There was several templi ruins, mostly columns and walls, lots of broken down walls. There were a few places with stone after stone in rows, I wonder what those are used for. The museum was closed, a lot of tourist places are closed on Mondays. It was fun, tiring, and interesting. The templi were built around 450 BC by the Greek but some were converted to Christian templi around 600 AD. One in particular was mentioned to have been dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul after it was cleansed of the gods.

The first temple we saw was attributed to Hera or Juno but that might not be correct according to recent discoveries. The templi were built on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea looking toward Greece. We walked along the walls to guard the templi and it was said tombs were later added into the walls.

Hera's Temple - arms length

Ancient olive trees

Tombs put in the walls by Christians around 600 BC

The next tempio was the Tempio de Concordia. After that walking through broken walls and finally we reached a large tempio area that was filled with the column ruins of the Tempio of Zeus Olimpico This area was much larger than the other templi but mostly there really wasn't any columns standing.

Tempie de Concordia

The foursome

This fallen angel was sculpture in 2011

Our white dove blessing our adventure

We threw Sorella Anderson in the dungeon

Ruins from Zeus' temple

The last columns belong to the Tempio of Descurio. The path continued on to the Gardens of Kolymbertha but we didn't have time to wander there. Although looking down into the gardens it looks like it would have been lots to see and explore.

Tempo de Descurio

The Gardens of Kolymbertha

We enjoyed our day with the Sorelle and our adventure out. Sicily is beautiful.

Ciao!