Sicily - Agrigento, Valle dei Templi

Tuesday, 20 September 2016

In the wee hours of the morning, our ship left Licata and docked in Agrigento. The seas were somewhat rough. Fortunately, by the time we left Agrigento for Malta, the swells had subsided.

We spent the day in Agrigento, visiting the Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi) in the morning and the Archaeological Museum in the afternoon. We had time to see just two of the many temples in this site.

First stop was the Temple of Juno. The ruins were partially put back together in the 1700s. 

The front entrance of the Temple of Juno.

Between the Temple of Juno and the Temple of Concordia the road runs parallel to the original fortification wall (which is on the top of a steep hill). In the Roman and Christian era, the fortifications were turned into a necropolis (cemetery). (It seems that any vertical structure can become a necropolis!) Later some of these niches became stables. Everything can be reused!

The Temple of Concordia as seen from the Temple of Juno.

The Temple of Concordia. Built around 500 BC, the temple was converted into a church around 600 AD. Later, in the 1700s, the Christian modifications were removed, and the temple remains among the best preserved and most complete Greek temples in the world.

The front entrance of the Temple of Concordia.

Agrigento is home to Girgentana goats -- an endangered Sicilian breed that gives high quality milk