Sicily III - Agrigento, Valley of the Temples & Punta Grande Scala dei Turchi.
Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna, Agrigento.
View from our room.
Mario, the chef.
Cooking lesson "per Mario ei suoi colleghi in Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna."
Sicilian pistachios that appeared in dessert at end of the cooking lesson & for dessert the following night in the dining room.
Cooking lesson "per Mario ei suoi colleghi in Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna."
Cooking lesson "per Mario ei suoi colleghi in Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna."
If you want to see the whole lesson go to:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FakGEkGw3EyuZFXbA
An early morning walk on the road outside Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
An early morning walk on the road outside Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
The cigarette packs in Italy had these horrible photos.
As we experienced in Marin County this past spring, Sicily had experienced unusually heavy rains as well. The wild flowers were magnificent & abundant everywhere.
An early morning walk on the road outside Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
Colazione with a view of the Valley of the Temples.
The ancient watchtower is part of Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
View from tower of the Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
View from tower of the Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
In the lobby of the tower in the Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
Like the architecture we saw on the island, so many cultures are represented in this piece of furniture.
In the tower of the Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
Vintage view of the Valley of the Temples when folks could wander around unhindered.
Hotel Foresteria Baglio della Luna.
Olive tree next to almond tree.
Valley of the Temples.
Signage in three languages.
Valley of the Temples.
When a new Roman executive arrived, the locals just changed the head. There were a bunch of these headless statues around.
Tempio della Concordia 440-430.B.C.E.
According to our guide, Sabella, it’s the best preserved ancient Greek temple in the world. At one time the temple had been converted into a Christian basilica. The entrance was changed &…
…interior walls constructed. The conversion to a basilica was one of the reasons that the temple has been preserved all this time.
Ancient & modern.
“…Captain Alexander Hardcastle, an apparently ordinary Englishman, accomplished something quite extraordinary. In 1922, without any formal training, he started to excavate a remote, dusty and neglected patch of ruins near the modern city of Agrigento in Sicily.
Within a decade, he had uncovered one of the largest and most significant archaeological sites on the planet.”
Hardcastle lived here, in a beautiful home, amidst the ruins.
Our British educated guide Sabella, was most informative speaking to us in English with a British accent. When this young boy appeared & asked him a question, Sabella patiently answered him.
Porto Empedocle.
San Calogero, the Black Saint of Agrigento.
Scala dei Turchi.
The Turkish Steps.
Scala dei Turchi
“Villa Romana di Punta Grande, Realmonte, dates from the imperial age, in the first half of the 2nd century AD, and was discovered by chance in December 1907, during the construction of the railway line.”
The Tower of Charles V in Porto Empedocle.
This tower, like the one in our hotel, was part of a string of watchtowers along the coast.
Unfinished elevated roadway into a tunnel....