Agrigento - Valley of the Temples

Once we heard that the best preserved Greek Temples in the world were in Southern Sicily, just 2 miles off the beach, we knew where we were going next. The problem was that we were just not ready to leave Taormina. So we decided to make a quick trip to the southern shore for a few days and then head back to Taormina for the weekend.

We checked the train schedule, but the trip was at least 7 hours. The bus looked to be 4 hours, but with the way we have seen the buses drive and the thought of the winding mountain roads, we did not want to arrive green and drooling. So, we decided to rent a car and see the inland of Sicily at our own speed. Little did we know that 7 hours in a train, or the road-sickness of a bus would be just as crazy as the trip in our rental car...

We rented from the same car company as before, and made the bad assumption the same car type would show up (could they even make a car with less than one cylinder as the previous one had?) Well, what showed up at the hotel was a Fiat Seicento. It was black, which loves the sun. It had a sun-roof that was just glass, so there was no way to block the beating Mediterranean sun from the top of our heads. Air conditioning? We don't think that it would even be an option on the Seicento if you were to buy one new (don't ever make this mistake).

The car also vaguely said "New Wave" on the side in hot pink and purple - atrocious - Steve almost had to turn in his Man Card for driving it. It had to be at least 300 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, not Celsius of course). Also note: if you rent a car in Europe, it most likely will be a stick shift, the Italians just assume you have driven a scooter at 120 miles an hour through traffic and know how to drive a stick.
We renamed the car twice. First, it was the Fiat Scary, because we were not really sure how to pronounce "Seicento", and it was very scary. The second name is the one that stuck. It became known as the "Fi-ach" (for those of you who are not familiar, in order for the rappers on MTV to use the word "bitch", they pronounce it "bee-ach". Thus, FI-ACH!
It was all worth it once the Valle dei Templi came into view. It is just the perfect setting. You can easily see why the Greeks decided this was the spot to honor the Gods. There are rolling green hills covered in yellow, orange and red Spring wildflowers. There were so many yellow flowers on one of the hills that it looked like it was made of gold. The dark green olive and poplar/cyprus trees dot the landscape as the perfect compliment. Zeus, Heracles, Concord and Hera we are sure were very happy with the location.

The temples are lined up along a ridge that overlooks the valley below. You can see all the way to the sparkling blue-green ocean in the distance. There is a an incredible pedestrian walkway that is about 3 miles long linking the ruins. You can easily imagine people over 2000 years ago living and working here as you walk in their footsteps.

Most of the temples were started in the 5th Century BC, and the Temple of Concord is know as the best preserved temple in the world. Multiple earthquakes have shook Sicily over the last 2000 years, so much of these treasures have been reduced to rubble - but even the rubble is still beautiful. What remains is nearly impossible to wrap your imagination around what it must have looked like in it's glory days.

The Temple dedicated to Zeus had these huge figures know as the "Telmons" that supported the roof. Only 2 of the figures remain, one lies on the ground amongst the ruins and the other has been resurrected in the museum. Standing next to the one in the museum you can feel it's majestic strength. Absolutely incredible to stand face-to-face with. Steve did an imitation of it's stance while standing next to it, his 1:20 scale version got a big laugh from other museum visitors! A lady came up to him about a half hour later, and in French mocked his imitation and started laughing all over again! "Ce bon!" (it's good!)

The next day was a drive along the southwestern shore of Sicily. We made peace with the Fi-ach, and cruised up to Siluente, where there is a temple that is incredibly preserved, and unlike many of the ruins you can actually walk throughout it and get a true feeling of what the inside felt like.

Our ultimate goal was to make it to Marsala, the region of Sicily that produces the sweet wine that chicken or veal marsala dishes are made of - one of Steve's long-time favorites. After a long discussion with the Fi-ach, we decided we just could not make it after 5 hours along the coast and over an hour back on the Autostrada (highway).

Needless to say, Southern Italy was well worth the trip. The inland of the island is beautiful, with lush green vineyards. There is the occasional medieval hilltop town that just makes you wonder how it ever happened. There are not many things in American that make you absolutely wonder how it happened, but as you approach one of these little towns, it just defies logic.

Sometimes you have to disregard logic to make incredible things happen!