Greek heritage – 4th and 5th May

This weekend marks the start of our 10 day driving holiday in Sicily. There were the usual adrenaline charged moments after the key was turned …now which side of the road are we meant to be on? …OMG a roundabout! ..what ARE the road rules? …why isn’t this GPS working? … indicators …NO! NOT the windscreen wipers!

In fact, Mike drove well and our only problems were with the GPS which would not adhere to the windscreen so I had to interpret the piccies. We (this is the royal we, mind you, as I did not drive) did have to drive through a hail storm too, which was a bit unfair on our first day, but all went well. The roads were good, and very little traffic too, which helped, even on the autostrada.

In fact, I’d have to say, I was quietly worrying about driving here after watching the antics in Palermo. You really can play a game there called “spot the undinged car”. But our bus trip to Segesta the other day helped – I made sure we sat right next to the bus driver there and back and I watched closely, which helped greatly with getting the vibe. (The buses have no dings, so they must be doing something right). And as far as I can make out, the vibe generally is just like how we use roundabouts.  No one actually stops going where they want to go at intersections or when they want to turn – they just gently and considerately assert their right to go where they want to go.  And the remarkable thing is, people let you! They are actually very considerate - as long as you are not putting them out too much…. The key is to be responsible and predictable. (Which of course is near impossible if you don’t know where you are going…!)

First stop was the ancient Greek site of Selinunte, a rich and powerful city of 100,000 people (in 500 BC - there’s no one there now except a few hundred hot tourists). The city was built overlooking the sea and over two and a half centuries, it became one of the most powerful cities of the world at that time, trading with Britain, Spain and countries throughout the Mediterranean. Slowly diminishing with time, a few sieges and an earthquake, it was destroyed by the inhabitants who then ran off to Marsala rather than give it to the all-conquering Romans in 350 BC. This is a huge site – you walk for kilometres – and so old that the origins of the temples are lost. The ruined temples are simply referred to as “A”, “B”, “C”, etc.

My strategic selection of a B&B in Agrigento has worked out well. I was able to completely avoid driving (and parking) in Agrigento. A 5 min drive this morning took us to the top car park for the Valley of Temples and we explored a bit of Agrigento itself at lunchtime by taking the local bus. We spent most of the day at the Valle dei Templi and the archaeological museum. Just. Amazing. I’m still processing what we saw.

The Temple of Juno was an impressive starter; then the Temple of Concord which has survived almost intact, largely because it was converted into a Christian church about 1,600 years ago - 1,000 years after it was built; the Temple of Hercules was built in the 6th century BC and was as big as the Parthenon; and then the gobsmacking Temple of Jupiter, never finished and totally in ruins.  It helped that we had been to the museum before visiting Jupiter – the sheer scale of it is awesome.

Temple of Juno	The view from the the Temple of Juno toward the Temple of Concord
Everyone takes this photo of the Temple of Concord…	A Temple of Jupiter telamone lying in the ruins
This one is in the museum – the people sitting provide an idea of the scale	A cork model in the museum of how the Temple of Jupiter probably looked – it was 113m X 56m and 30m high.
500 BC tower meets 2013 AD tower…	Jen with a capital in the ruins of the Temple of Jupiter

One aspect I found interesting and that isn’t talked about much in any of the info we had, is the centuries of occupation of the Valley of the Temples by early Christians.  Aside from the modifications to the Temple of Concord to convert it to a church, there are large areas of tombs and catacombs centred around the Temple of Concord. Clearly this ridge was a centre of worship for millennia.

Enough! Time for bed!