Petersontravels

From Selinunte it was about a 90 minute drive to our next destination, Agrigento, known for their ancient Greek temples (what part of Sicily isn’t?).  There is an excellent hotel that sits right adjacent to the site, maybe 100 yards from the temples, called Villa Athena.

I decided to splurge here because of the incredible view from their “Villa Suite”, and we were very fortunate to have excellent weather here so we could utilize the huge patio that comes with the suite.  The view from our room is incredible!  That’s the very well preserved “Temple of Concordia” right in front of the hotel.

Off to the left sits the Temple of Hera, also fully visible from the hotel.

We were treated to an excellent sunset that evening.

We decided to do a dinner at the hotel they call the “Orto Experience”, served in their gardens.  While it was a great concept, they simply served WAY too much food!  I have never in my life been hungry enough to  have eaten half of it!  It would not be a repeater.  I didn’t take any photos as I was too buy moaning and groaning over how full I was and how much food was being wasted.  I hate wasting food!

The “Temple of Concordia” lights up shortly after sunset.  The impeccable hotel grounds are in the forefront. We didn’t venture into the pool as it’s not heated and quite chilly this time of year.

You can buy your ticket for the “Valley of the Temples” from the hotel, and they have their own access point right in the parking lot.  Upon entering I took a photo looking east towards the Temple of Hera.  Even though it was the off-season there were plenty of people here.

An interesting note, the tourists here go out of their way to attempt to walk right into you, like some sort of a test.  It was bizarre….and happened multiple times, so it wasn’t a one off.  Kim and I have taken to just stopping in our tracks when we experience this (it’s happened elsewhere in Italy).  Very strange behavior.

As you walk east (stopping here and there so you don’t get run over) the remains of the southern city wall come into view.  This wall was originally built as a defense against attack from the sea, but after the threat of attack went away it was converted into an early Christian cemetery between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.

They carved tombs right into the soft rock of the walls, many of which have eroded into vistas through the rock.

At the eastern end of the site is the Temple of Hera, built around 450 BC in the style of the Archaic Doric period.  Initial restoration efforts started in the 18th century to stabilize the structure.

In the early 20th century significant work was done to reassemble some of the temples columns.  The temple has visible burn marks from the Carthaginian siege of the city in 406 BC, but they must be in the interior of the temple which we could not see.

It’s a spectacle to see at every angle!

The light and the sky were perfect for photos!  You can actually see where they used reinforced concrete to rebuild to columns.

This is a view of the “Temple of Concordia” towards the west, which is only half way towards the end of the site, showing you how large it is.

The “Temple of Concordia” zoomed in.  Great perspective from here!

We then walked back west to get closer to Concordia.  This is where the bulk of tourists congregate.  This is the largest and best-preserved Doric temple in Sicily.

The temple was built in 440 to 430 BC and was named after Concordia, the Roman goddess of Harmony.  It was converted into a Christian basilica in the 6th century which is why it survived the destruction of pagan places of worship.  It underwent extensive refurbishment when it was converted.

The Christian changes were removed when the temple was restored in 1785. Apart from the Parthenon in Greece it is considered the best preserved Doric temple in the world.  If you look at the lower right of this photo you will see the Villa Athena Hotel in the background.

A little further west you pass by a group of endangered Girgentana Goats, the only animal endemic to Agrigento.  They have amazing twisted horns!

Closer towards the western edge of the site is the “Temple of Hercules”.  This is the oldest of the temples here, dating from around 570 BC.  It was partially restored with original materials found on site in 1924.  You can see the reinforced concrete, just like Kim and I saw in Easter Island with the restored Moai.  Look at that incredible sky!  I love it when nature cooperates!

A little further west are the complete ruins of the “Temple of Olympian Zeus”, built around 480 BC.  Not really much to take a photo of but these huge “Atlases”, stone figures standing almost 25 feet high.  These were situated between the temple columns, appearing to hold the weight of the upper portion of the temples.  They have been interpreted as symbolizing the Carthaginian invaders turned into slaves by the Greeks.  This one is a replica, the original found here is in a museum.  Still quite interesting!

Back at “The Temple of Concordia” is this modern sculpture of “Fallen Icarus” by Polish artist Igor Mitoraj, installed in 2011 and meant to be temporary.  It was created with intentional cracks and missing limbs to fit in with the ancient classical ruins.  It became so popular the artist donated the sculpture to the site permanently.  It definitely gets it’s share of photos!

On the way back to the hotel we were treated to a partial rainbow over the gardens.

I took a photo of Kim lounging on the bed from our balcony.

This is the massive balcony.  If you come here just do it!  It was well worth it (to me).

One last shot as the sunset.

Coming up next, we make our way east and stop at “Villa Romana Del Casale”, an incredible collection of Roman floor mosaics.

 

 

 

We departed Marsala and I had to drive in that god forsaken “narrow street” and “blind intersection” city for the last time!  Whew!  We made our way about an hour southeast and visited the “Selinunte Archeological Park”, the largest site of Greek ruins in Sicily.

Selinunte was a rich and extensive Greek city in Sicily and is the site of great ancient temples with the earliest dating from 550 BC.  The first section you explore on entry is called The East Hill that holds three temples of varying sizes.

First up is the dramatic Temple E, which dates from 460-450 BC.

There are a couple of interesting modern artworks on the path to Temple E.  First up is this ostrich burying it’s head in the sand, an allegory of about 70% of the voters in California.

Love this very realistic looking baby elephant being hoisted by a little boy.

Temple E was partially reconstructed by the original materials found on the site between 1956 and 1959.  This action was not without some controversy.

An original frieze at the top of the walls consisted of metopes (a rectangular architectural element) depicting people.  Those were all moved to the Archeological Museum in Palermo (why can’t they be the museum they have here on site?)

The temples here at Selinunte are unique in that you can pretty much walk anywhere you want amongst the ruins, including inside the temples.

Directly adjacent to Temple E is Temple F,  the oldest and smallest of the three on The East Hill, built between 550 and 540 BC.  It is also the most dilapidated of the three.  I didn’t even take a photo of it, so here is one from the internet.

Temple G was the largest here and among the largest in the Greek World.  This building was under construction for a long period of time, from 530 to 409 BC.  This is evidenced by the variation in style of the temple.  It was also incomplete, as seen by the absence of fluting on some of the columns and by the existence of column drums (the individual parts that made up a column) of the same dimensions still in the quarry 10km away.  Very little remains standing today, and to get this photo you had to climb into the jumble of rocks, risking an ankle injury.  The things I do for the blog!

We briefly visited the museum, but you can only view so many pottery bits before getting bleary eyed and wanting to get back outside.  They did have some cool videos to watch though, showing how Temple E is used today for all sorts of concerts and performances, as well as a very cool light show should you be here at night.  The museum also has this display of Temple Y, parts of which were found reused in other temple projects.  The three columns are original, while the two metopes (upper left) are copies of the originals, which are of course in Palermo.

Here is one of the original metopes in Palermo.

Ok, once back outside we hopped on a shuttle (take the shuttle, trust me) and were taken to The Acropolis, which sits right on the water.  This was the site of a large settlement, with as many as 30,000 residents at it’s height in 409 BC.  The site has several temples, the most impressive one being the Doric Temple C (in the background) dating from 550 BC.

Temple C probably functioned as an archive, since hundreds of seals (used with wax) were discovered here.  It was partially reconstructed using original materials in 1929.

I took a photo from this spot and then there was suddenly a line of people swapping phones to take photos of each other.

We walked amongst the ruins of the temple and noted how haphazardly some of the stones were laying on each other.

Some even making little pathways through the rocks.

This is the view looking back towards Temple E from The Acropolis area, giving you a feeling for how large the park is.

One last look at Temple E as we were heading to our final shuttle to the parking lot.  We highly recommend this visit, and both thought it was more rewarding than Segesta, so if you have to pick one, pick Selinunte.

Coming up, we arrive in Agrigento, and stay a mere 100 yards from the incredible Valley of the Temples (more ancient Greece stuff!).