Valle dei Templi / Valley of the Temples

Planning the “Great Sicilian Temple Tour” was challenging, in that we were forced to do it without Internet access. For those of you (and that would be most of you) who are totally used to checking the Internet anytime you want any bit of info, we are here to tell you that making plans without it was seriously unsettling. We depended heavily on an old guidebook from the pre-Internet days, “Karen Brown’s Italy; Charming Inns and Itineraries”. This book contained both a recommended touring route, as well as hotel recommendations (with phone #s NOT web addresses!). On Karen’s advice we booked ourselves into the Hotel Athena in Agrigento for our second and third nights. We arrived after dark (thanks to daylight savings time), and our approach to the hotel was quite stunning. This area, known as Valle de Temple is an archeological jewel, with remains of 5 temples, catacombs, and the ancient remains of Agrigento (population 200,000 in it’s early days!). As we drove into the valley on Monday evening, the temples were lit and glowed magnificently in the early evening darkness. Hotel Athena is smack in the middle of it all, with the most complete temple just outside the grounds, and our rooms looked straight out onto that glorious view. It was certainly a “wow” moment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_dei_Templi

The current town of Agrigento is above the archeological park, and is decidedly modern, but our concierge directed us to a wonderful restaurant, and on Monday evening we ate well, and raised a glass to our good fortune for being in this wonderful area. The next morning, it was as easy as walking out the door and up a short path from our patios to access the park. We wandered amongst the ruins for the morning, and then embarked on an unplanned side trip. We had seen a postcard of an unusual beach while at Selinunte, a place called Scala dei Turchi…turns out it was only a short drive from Agrigento, so we set out to see it for ourselves. What an amazing treat!! At this place, the shoreline transitions to white “marl” a kind of carbonate mudstone. There is a cliff, and the rock has eroded dramatically at the shore into steep, white steps…kind of like the cliffs of Dover. The air was warm, the sky was moving toward a dramatic sunset, and only a handful of people there. So cool! Lucky us!

I was up and out at 7 in the morning, just as the sun was rising. I walked through an olive grove to reach the line of temples and there was only myself and a quite scraggly dog wandering in the ruins. A great morning.

My buddy.

The view to the west along the fortification wall. Our hotel was out the right side of the photo, even with the temple, and about 400 yards away from it. Quite a view.

Beyond the hotel was this shepherds home and the penned up sheep before they went out to the daily pasture.

The ruins were partially rebuilt during the mid 1800 by a retired English army captain named Hardcastle, who took up residence amid the site and funded the first archaeological expeditions of the area.