I spent the Friday morning at our B&B reading, updating this blog,
and relaxing. Boronia headed out to explore the old town, which sits high on
two hills overlooking the line of Greek and roman temples to the south, the so
called valley of the temples.
After a pleasant lunch in a modern style restaurant, along with or
friends, we were picked up by our archaeological guide, Marco, to guide us
through the huge archaeological park between the sea and the current city.
Marco brought a huge amount of passion and enthusiasm to the task of
explaining what we were seeing, and why various features were built. Marco’s
explanations contextualised the archaeological present with explanations which
ranged across the disciplines of history, engineering, politics, culture,
botany and philosophy. I felt we learned as much about Sicily today as about
Agrigento in 500 BC and later; a literal tour de force. To summarise in full
the information he imparted would take many pages, so I wont try. The key
points he emphasised were that the temples were as much about demonstrating the
political power of the Agrigento city state to arriving visitors as religious,
and that the move in about 300 AD from the town below the hill up to the
present location of Agrigento was essentially for reasons of defence.
We finished the day with a pleasant meal in a nearby enoteca.
Saturday was spent travelling to Erice, with a stops in Mazzara and then
Marsala. Both towns have strong African influences, and a quite different
aesthetic with strong Arab influence.
We arrived in Erice after a long climb up the 750 metres. A lovely
medieval village in an extraordinary location, high above Trapani. We ate in a
local restaurant; influenced by my personal demons, I ignored my more sensible
presentiments, and ordered and ate three courses, plus wine and coffee.
Tomorrow we will walk for three hours to make up for our sins.
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