I am having a lot of fun typing this under the watchful eye of a grumpy Sicilian hotel owner. Free internet for guests, but 10 minutes only please! I must type quickly!We left Palermo on our second tour day, and headed into the Trapani region, famous for its vineyards. There are monuments everywhere to the dissolution of the mafia - it still exists, but after a concentrated effort to prosecute it is now largely underground.
First stop was Erice, a hilltop medieval village with an ancient Greek origin. Narrow cobbled streets, castles, churches and fortifications. Very picturesque, with extraordinary views of the Egadi Islands.
The afternoon was spent at Selinunte, an enormous archaeological park with the ruins of several temples. Their dedications are unknown, so they are only labelled with letters of the alphabet. One has been partially restored, but this effort has been called off following the discovery of several mistakes in the restoration job. I had a lot of fun climbing all over the gargantuan ruins of the Zeus temple (they think they can identify this one because it's the BIGGEST!) Nerd note - this was the largest Greek settlement in Sicily, but was destroyed by the Carthaginians (who set up human sacrifices here! Yuck!) and earthquakes.
Overnight in Agrigento.
No comments:
Post a Comment