Having paid and bought some wine, we left Piana di Borromeo, drove the 6 km back to Fulgatore and then on into the mountains and the Greek site of Segesta. The occupation of the site goes back to the 12th century BC and was used up until the Middle Ages when a castle was built on the Acropolis but it is the Greek remains that dominate. The two main attractions are the theatre and a Doric temple.
The theatre, capable of holding 4,000 people is on the side of the Acropolis, a twenty minute up-hill walk from the modern entrance near one of the ancient gates. The climb however is worth it and weaker souls can use a bus to do the journey. The views from the Acropolis over the mountains are fantastic and the theatre was built so that it gives a commanding view over a fertile plain to the distant sea.
The temple looks almost complete from a distance and it appears that very little reconstruction has been done. However when you get close, you can see that the temple was never completed. The cella was never built, the columns weren't fluted and the stones of the temple base still have the lugs used to move them into position. The building seems to have been interrupted in 409 BC when the Carthaginians occupied the city. The mountain setting of the temple is magnificent.
We had been told that the Zingaro National Park was worth a visit and so we decided to pay it a visit. We approached from the eastern side, just west of Castellemmare del Golfo at Scopello. This part of coast is very pretty and we really enjoyed the drive to the car park at the end of the no through road. There is a charge of €3 to enter the park and as we paid the attendant we asked about camping or aires in the area. Much to our surprise, he said that we were able to stay in the car park without any charge. We can't believe that this would be the case in the Summer or the car park would be full of Italian motorhomes as the Park is very popular.
We chose the lower path close to the sea with lovely views up and down the coast and up to the steep high limestone cliffs on our left. We started walking past bushes of rosemary and soon encountered wild cyclamen, other wild flowers and insectivorous plants. Eagles soared, catching the thermals over the top of the cliffs and many other birds including redstarts flitted amongst the bushes. There were olive, almond and fig trees, cacti and many other bushes but the most impressive were the hundreds of short palm trees. The perfume of ripe dates filled the air and it was so sweet that you could almost taste it. The ruins of defensive towers dating to the 15th and 16th centuries are dotted along this rugged coastline, relics of Spanish occupation.
The narrow path climbed and dropped back to near sea level many times until we reached the point where we hoped to climb up a valley and on to the higher path for the walk back to the entrance. However, the path sign told us that the climb would take an hour and with the rest of the walk to do after that, we knew that it would be dark before we got back. Reluctantly, we retraced our steps although this was still a lovely walk with a different aspect on the views. The walk took us three and a half hours and we didn't see a single piece of rubbish. This would be extremely impressive anywhere in Italy but in Sicily it is a miracle!
We can thoroughly recommend the Zingaro National Park – come early, bring a picnic and walk for the day.
We sat in the motorhome with a view across the 'Golfo di Castellammera' and as night fell, we watched the nearly-full moon rise out of the sea. Magic.
Photos: The theatre on the acropolis at Segesta with the sea (the 'Golfo di Castellammera') in the distance; The Segesta temple set on the hill opposite the acropolis; Donkey power is king in the Zingaro National Park.
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