If you remember that map of Sicily, Agrigento is on the SW angle of the triangle, very near the Mediterranean coast. It was a bit of drive from Ramona's house, but the borrowed Tom Tom got us there and home with only one minor glitch. It helped that Ramona had been to Agrigento before.
As with many sites, these Greek temples are on the top of a hill. I'd read that Sicily has the best preserved Greek ruins outside Greece, and this site would verify that.
Ramona dropped Aidan and me off at one entrance. She and Trout went to the one we where we would exit. The first temple we saw was the Temple of Juno. It's at the highest point. This is a view into the valley from it.
We couldn't not take a picture of at least one of the large prickly pears complete with fruit that we saw. Maybe that's why I felt so at home in Sicily.
Here are Ramona and Aidan heading up the hill to the Temple. Note that very old olive tree on the left side of the picture.
This close up of Aidan makes her look like she's learned that Italian "you talkin' to me" attitude.
This is a slightly different view from the Temple. I suspect it didn't quite look like this during Greek times -- about 450 BC.
Now to the temples. The best description I found of them is in the form of a self walking guide. They were built of limestone tufa and covered inside and out with polychrome stucco, although there are few traces of color left on them. Wood, tiles and marble were used for the roofs over time.
This is a view of the Temple of Concordia from the Temple of Juno.
Some of you may recognize these characters. Aidan took this picture.
And this one.
Mine turned out very blurry, but this one I took of her is okay.
Sicily is so hilly that many of the highways are elevated. That also allows what's on the ground (ruins, houses, fields) to not be so affected by the road. This was the best shot I got of an elevated highway.
This is the Temple of Concordia close up. It is probably one of the best preserved Greek temples because it was converted to a Christian church around 597.
The arches inside formed the walls of the Christian church.
This is a view of the modern city of Agrigento. High rises everywhere.
These tombs were near the Temple of Concordia.
This is some interesting floor detail of the Temple of Hercules.
This small hound kept us company while we explored.
Yeah, it was raining off and on.
This is one of the atlases (telemones in Roman and Italian terminology) now on his back. They were used as columns to support the roof of the Temple of Zeus. The female version is called a Caryatid. Atlases are often carved as holding things up with great effort. Caryatids do it effortlessly. Need I say more?
Here's another strong guy. Trout's almost 6 feet tall, so the large scale is amazing.
Ramona's been here before and wisely insisted that we see the telemon. As of our trip there, she still hadn't seen the whole place and all the temples.
Tom Tom sent us on a winding back road to the the Villa Romana del Casale. We were afraid we were lost because it took so long, but Trout did get to see an old paved road racing track enroute.The site is constantly being researched and preserved. This is what it looks like outside. It was built around 340 and the mosaic work is described as being done by North Africans -- considered to be the most skilled mosaic artists of the time.
Most of the pictures I took were from the scaffolding throughout the rooms. We were up and down the stairs and at every vantage point all three of us were saying "WOW" or left dumbstruck. I had seen some of these images in art books, but as always, nothing prepares you for seeing the thing in person.
Every floor was covered.
Even those of the toilets. Remember, the Romans had very sophisticated hot and cold running water systems. They weren't exactly flush toilets, but they weren't pit privies. Communal pottying was not unusual either.
I took this picture especially for the quilters who might see it.
This is probably the most famous of all the mosaics. Often cited as the Bikini Bathers, it actually shows women representing athletic exercises in the clothing they wore for them. The Villa is close to the town of Enna which has a very good description -- maybe better than the one of the official website I linked to above.
The white at the top of some of these pictures is a drop cloth.
Due to the late hour and the weather, most of the vendors were closed along the road from the parking lot to the Villa when we arrived. Since it was so close to closing, we went to the villa first, hoping to hit the one coffee shop with walls and a toilet on the way back. By the time we got back to it, it was closing up, but they did allow me to use the toilet and us to get something to drink.It was dark when we got back on the road. It took a long time to find our way to the autostrada, but Ramona once more did a great job of driving, and we got home just in time to have the tasty dinner Jason cooked for us.
It was our last night in Sicily and it was an early one because we were leaving early the next day from Catania to head back north.
