Realmonte to Valley of the Temples

March 26, 2023

Breakfast was decent, the cappuccinos good, and our host even provided a couple of small panini to take along. We could have eaten them as part of breakfast, but the pastries we were served were enormous. We took a couple more oranges as well from the big bowl of them we’d been snacking from yesterday. They are so good!

Our host (I never caught his name) is also a truck driver, apparently, and suggested a slightly different route from Porto Empedocle . Less steep and no trucks, he said, as it was Sunday. We gave it a go but turned back to the route I’d mapped when we saw it went through a tunnel, though RWGPS showed a lot of heat that way. We saw some roadies heading that way just after we turned around, but they were locals on light bikes and used to the route.

The same rock that formed the Scala dei Turchi is exposed on the side of the road but not so worn and smoothed by wind and waves and time.

Our route through Porto Empedocle was indeed steep, but we managed to ride it. Rarely a question for Al, sometimes a question for me.

Before we leave Porto Empedocle, though, I have to mention that it is the home town of Andrea Camilliere, author of the Inspector Montalbano novels and creator of the tv series based on them. The town has installed a few monuments to honour him. We didn’t find the staircase with risers to resemble a stack of the Montalbano novels, but we found the mural and statue.

Camilleri mural and bench, Porto Empedocle

Bronze interpretation of il commissario Montalbano, Porto Empedocle

The road got busier and turned upward again (but not so steeply) as we approached the archaeological park. Our accommodation is one of the few within the park, as opposed to the presumably many hotels and B&Bs in Agricento and is the best room yet. We had asked for early check-on and the room was ready shortly after we arrived around 10:30. It was spacious, good water pressure, and once again, very welcoming hosts. We unpacked, cleaned up, and headed off to visit the archeological park and museum.

It was a fair walk to the closest entrance gate, happily downhill.

When they say “archeological park”, it really is a park setting.

We bought combo tickets, temples and museum, but it seemed visitors were expected to drive from the park entrance (where they’d presumably left their car) to the museum. Odd, since the museum is immediately adjacent to a corner of the park. We would figure it out later.

The scale of the park is impressive. So are the temples that have been re-erected. Plenty of fodder for archaeological research here!

Temple of Juno. School group assembled on the altar. Zoom in to the yellow sign.

Temple of Concordia with Icaro Caduto by Igor Mitoray, placed here in 2011.

Oblivious Girgentana goats (indigenous Sicilian breed) in their enclosure within the archeological park

There was an area of, I think, exposed bedrock that was full of seashell fossils

Temple of Hercules. We saw this row of columns from the road below as we rode.

Artist’s impression of how the Temple of Olympian Zeus might have looked.

Stones of a Telamon laid out near the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This is a replica; we will see the real one in the museum.

View of Agricento from the Temple of Olympian Zeus

After seeing our fill of the temples, we followed a paved path up the hillside within the park. The other choice was to exit the park and walk up the road we’d cycled in the morning, but even if there was a sidewalk all the way, it wouldn’t be a pleasant walk. This way too, we got to see what was left of the Greek theatre (not much) and the “quartiere ellenistico-romano” archeological site. We had ridden right by this; it’s only separated from the road by a chain-link fence, but I hadn’t even noticed!

The next item was to get out of the archeological park and across the street to the museum. There was a gate signposted but it was chained up and padlocked. We weren’t the only tourists hoping to exit here for the museum, but it seemed we were the only ones willing to climb over the fence. It wasn’t particularly hard.

The gate we climbed over to exit the park.

The museum was well worth the extra €3.50 each.

The Telamon is set up in its proper vertical position in the museum. For scale, Al is just under 6 feet tall. And these statues were maybe a third of the height of the temple. Behind and below are various scholars’ ideas of how they fit into the temple façade.

I found this child’s sarcophagus very moving

Afterward, we returned to our room to enjoy a beer on the outdoor swing seat. Peace.

Walking up to Agricento for dinner wasn’t quite so peaceful. Being Sunday, many of the closer options weren’t open, but it wasn’t really that far up to the restaurant area.

We were planning on just pizza, but found ourselves in a much classier restaurant. The special was pasta with local lobster, €50 for two. We splurged.

Pistachio semifreddo with caramel sauce for dessert

Heart

Comment

Link

Today's ride: 17 km (11 miles)
Total: 440 km (273 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	9
Comment on this entry	Comment	0