Friday, October 7, 2016

Agrigento to Caltigirone Sicily

Our airbnb host had left us Tiramisu for breakfast this morning. A bit too sweet for me, but between Anne and myself we still managed to polish it off.  We left our luggage at the residence so we could relax while driving around knowing there's nothing in the car worth taking while we were sightseeing.  First stop were the Scala dei Turchi - the white cliffs...



Then to the Valley of the Temples. Again I got in free because I was Deaf and Anne got in free as she had to help me!  We did catch a taxi up to the top though and then walked down, temple by temple. It was really hot too!

The first temple was the Temple of Juno Lacinia. It dates back to 450 BC. The buliding was damaged in the fire of 406 BC and restored in Roman times.



Old fortification walls...



A lone tree at the top of the cliff..


Temple of Concordia.  In front of this one was an amazing piece of artwork by a local artist.



A View of Agrigento City from the valley...


Temple of Heracles - sixth century BC.



The temple of Olympian Zeus. Sadly in ruins, not only because of it's age but also because it was used as a quarry by the Porto Empedocle



The olympian Zeus would have held up the temple originally, now lying sadly on the ground.


I found fossils of Scallop shells in the paving..


Last temple is the reassembled remains of Castor and Pollux.


After wandering the Valley of the Temples, we went into Agrigento and had a lunch and a glass of wine, then drove to Caltigirone. On the way we stopped to take a photo of one of the many abandoned farm houses...




We arrived in Caltigarone about six. So we had a wine on the deck looking over the city from our B&B.



The steps of Caltagirone from our balcony looking up...

 And looking down...


We then went out to explore the town. Walked all the way down those steps (from the BnB there are 96 - I counted!) Found some cathedrals and old jails and some beautiful old buildings.






We then found a restaurant to eat at - that was recommended by our host. Anne googled it and we found it was Number 1 in Tripadvisor. It waspretty good - we had the Pasta with clams and mint, (we shared one between us), and then had the swordfish rolls which were divine. A very enjoyable evening wtih good food.

Then we had to climb those 96 steps back up to the BnB. Needless to say I took a while, and now my knees hurt!

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