Friday 30th October 2009 - Agrigento, Sicily, Italy

After yesterday's visit to the best known mosaics in the Roman world, today we are going to visit probably the best collection of Greek temples in the world. The day started warm and sunny and it was positively hot sat in the direct sun over breakfast. Ideal weather for exploring the large site.
Akragas (Agrigentum to the Romans) was established in 582 BC and was named after the river next to it, the Akragas meaning 'rich in crabs' in Greek. It was chosen for its defensive position, bordered by two rivers that merge before the nearby coast and protected by two hills. It was ruled by a series of tyrants and soon became very wealthy, stating its power by the construction of a massive, 12 km long defensive wall that surrounded the city and included a long ridge to the south. This ridge is now known as 'Collina dei Templi' ('Hill of the Temples').
Catching the bus from outside the campsite we got off at the car park on the road that splits the site in two. We started at the western end, which the guidebook explained was the quietest part mainly because the temples are less complete. The first temple that we came to was a temple to Olympian Zeus, built in the 5th century BC and the largest Doric temple in the western Greek world, occupying an area slightly less than a football field and with foundations 6 metres deep. The temple lies in ruins with what remains of the columns and stone blocks lying in huge heaps. This is due to a combination of damage in ancient times, including enemy attacks and earthquakes and the inevitable use of the site as a quarry. In the middle ages it was know as 'cava gigantum' ('giant quarry') but most of the remains were removed for use in the construction of Port Empedode in the middle of the 18th century. The temple was over 30 metres tall and many 'Telamons', giant human figures helped to support the roof. The Telamons were 7.6 metres tall and are thought to have been placed at a height of 13 metres between the full height pillars, although there is much speculation around their exact position. One complete Telamon still exists in the museum and a cast copy has been left on the site where it was found – a very impressive sight. In front of the temple is its altar where the simultaneous sacrifice of 100 bulls was carried out.
The next site was the late 5th century BC 'Temple dei Dioscuri' (the Dioscuri being Castor and Pollux) with its well-meaning but misguided reconstruction of a few pillars. This was done in 1832 by assembling a random collection of bits that were lying around, all of different ages and architectural styles. This temple was built in an area that was a large and important centre for the cult of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Evidence shows that they were worshipped here from the 7th century BC before the foundation of the city and worship of they continued for over 300 years.
We then returned to the car park and set off for the more popular eastern end of the site. We hardly saw anyone in the western section and there were more people in the eastern part but we could hardly call it crowded. We started with paleo-Christian and later Christian burials and then climbed up to the ridge and the most complete temple of Akragas. The late 6th century BC 'Temple of Concordia' (probably dedicated to the Discouri) is beautifully preserved mainly due to its conversion to a Christian church in the 6th century AD and the subsequent reversal of this process in the late 18th century. It is beautifully proportioned and looks magnificent perched on the ridge.
We walked on up the ridge over the area that had been quarried by the Romans who then created tombs out of the remaining rock. We then reach the highest of the buildings, the Temple of Hera with its huge altar.
Only priests and acolytes were allowed in the temple and the devotees to Hera performed their rituals at the altar. They had to be pure in body and mind and they brought with them offerings of food, flowers and, Hera's favourite, a white cow. Water was sprinkled over the cow and the worshippers, prayers said by the priest and then the cow was sacrificed. The animal was then roasted and shared amongst the priests and worshippers, so at least it wasn't a complete waste.
We walked back down the ridge, viewing the late 6th century BC Temple of Hercules before leaving the site and heading for the museum, about 10 minutes walk up hill towards the modern town.
The museum was very good and quite extensive, giving lots of background information (in English) on the site and the city of Akragas. There were also a large amount of exquisite painted pottery known as Gela ware from the nearby Sicilian city of that name.
As the sun started to set, we made our way back to the car park and waited for our bus. The twenty minute wait seemed a long time and we were glad to get back to Henrietta and put our feet up!
Photos: A huge Telamon reclines in the the Temple of Olympian Zeus; The Roman tombs on the ridge with the Hera temple in the background; The Hera Temple view from the large altar; The Temple of Concordia showing the arches cut in the cella when the temple was converted to a church; An intriguing ritual tube with ears and hair – it is thought that it represented a divinity and was sunk partly in the earth to enable communication with the underworld.

Thursday 29th October 2009 – Agrigento, Sicily, Italy

After saying goodbye to the English family, we left the most comfortable, prettiest and cleanest site that we have stayed at in Sicily and probably in the whole of Italy. Definitely one to visit again in we are in the area.
Punta Braccetto is an oasis in a sea of plastic. The area produces a huge amount of vegetables and specialises in tomatoes and particularly cherry tomatoes. Next time that you buy out-of-season cherry tomatoes in your local supermarket, they may have come from here. Our route took us close to the sea all of the way to Gela and up to Lake Biviere we must have past thousands of acres of plastic greenhouses most with tomatoes in various phases from seedlings to productive plants. From the lake onwards, vines and olive trees replaced the plastic until we arrived at the ugly industrial side of Gela with many refineries and chemical plants.
The first part of the road heading inland from Gela towards Piazza Armerina was marked as 'picturesque' on the Michelin map but we felt that it became much more picturesque almost from the moment that the green line ran out on the map. We had been climbing gently since leaving the coast and the mountain scenery was very pleasant. A different type of agriculture dominated here, one that I had never seen before – cacti groves. We had seen prickly pears (the fruit of the cactus) for sale in the markets at a very reasonable €2 per kilogram. At least it seems a reasonable price compared to other fruit and vegetables but I have never tasted one and have no idea of how they are prepared or cooked, if indeed they are not eaten raw (without the spikes I presume). Another thing to look up on the Internet.
And then I saw it – Etna. Without clouds and capped with snow it looked magnificent. I'm happy now!
We travelled to Piazza Armerina for one reason, the Villa Roman di Casale, 4 km outside the town. The 4th century AD villa is thought to be a hunting lodge of Roman Emperor Maximianus Heraclius. Amazingly it was in use up to the 12th century when it was covered in a mudslide. These two facts explain the preservation of the 12,000 square feet (no, that is not a misprint) of beautiful, high quality mosaics. As you can see from the photographs above, they really are fantastic. There is a huge amount of work going on at the site at the moment as walls are consolidated, mosaics repaired and new visitor walkways installed. This meant that substantial parts of the villa, especially the baths were closed off and parts of other mosaics were covered. The entrance fee was reduced to €3 and we were concerned that there would be little to see but this was not the case and it was well worth the visit. Hunting scenes and exotic animals were everywhere – lions, tigers, leopards, camels and many more; a huge scene showed a Roman circus (an oblong race track) with a chariot race in progress; oxen pulled loaded carts; the Great Hunting Scene coved the floor of a corridor running the entire width of the huge complex. I cannot stress enough how amazing the mosaics are and we didn't see them all. We got occasional glimpses of beautiful mosaics in the closed-off areas. My photographs don't do them justice and bright sun meant that many mosaics were a mixture of very bright and heavy shadow. This made it impossible to take good photographs. I definitely want to return once the work has been completed but it will have to be on a bright but overcast day so that there aren't any shadows!
We passed one castle on the way up but on the journey back to the coast at Agrigento we past more. This is a very fertile area, producing a huge amount of wheat but at this time of the year most of the fields were freshly ploughed. Again it was very attractive scenery and made for a very pleasant drive.
On route, we also found a huge Carrefour hypermarket and we able to stock up with provisions for the next few days. We arrived at the Valle dei Templi campsite just as dusk fell – the name of the site might give you a clue as to what we are going to see tomorrow!
Photos: Part of the 'small' hunting scene – it was very large!; Wonderful detail in the face of an Amazon (?); Two of the famous ten bikini-clad girls; A collage of other small mosaics; A view from the road between Casale and Agrigento.

Wednesday 28th October 2009 – Punta Braccetto, Sicily, Italy

Another day of relaxation – I could get used to this. Lots more reading, chatting with the other English family on the site and a short walk to the bakers and mini market, inevitably called 'Maxi Market'. The campsite is very nearly full with many Germans who are well established and are probably going to spend the Winter here. The site really very good, flowers line all of the pitches, the private toilet facilities, showers, washing-up and clothes washing areas are immaculate and the beach is clean and offers excellent swimming. Two bakers arrive every morning to sell break, panettone and other goodies, a fruit and vegetable van comes later and this morning we had a man selling fish. I can understand why people choose this site for a long stay. Having said that, there is not a lot to see in the area and although most people have bikes and the area is relatively flat, I think that I would soon get bored. The most popular pastime is laying on the beach and that wouldn't suit us.
We have decided to move on tomorrow but have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and would certainly return to this site next time we visit Sicily.
Photos: Sunset over Torre Vigliena as seen from the campsite beach.

Tuesday 27th October 2009 – Punta Braccetto, Sicily, Italy

A day of relaxation in the warm sun with clothes washing and reading the the order of the day. Later in the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach and out to the headland where the ruins of the 18th century Torre Vigliena fortress are to be found. We think that the ruins were a customs post used to check for pirates and smugglers, both of which were common at that time. It must be said that they look more impressive from a distance than they do close up but it was a pleasant walk.
Photos: Punta Braccetto from Torre Vigliena.

Monday 26th October 2009 – Punta Braccetto, Sicily, Italy

Our target for today was the Cava D'Ispica, one of two areas of Prehistoric caves in this part of Italy. The major area is Pantellica, quite close to Siracusa and this would have been the obvious place to visit. However, the map showed that the site is a long way up tortuous mountain roads, at a dead end and away from any villages. Not knowing how Henrietta would cope with the roads, I decided to go for the Cava D'Ispica on a through road and only 6 km off the main SP 115. The Michelin map showed a motorway under construction and this turned out to be open, soon to be a pay motorway (they were building the toll booths) but currently free. This speeded up our journey and we arrived before 11:30 and according to the guide book that allowed us just over two hours to see the free site. It turned out that there was now an entrance fee (a very reasonable €2) but the site was now open all day. The gorge is 12 km long, extended all the way back to Ispica and has caves along its entire length. They date back to the early bronze age when natural caves were used as houses. They were often extended by excavation and must have provided relatively comfortable accommodation. The fertile river valley must have also added to the attraction of the site.
When the Greeks colonised the island, they adapted the caves for burials, digging many tombs in the floors and walls of the caves. They also used the caves for habitation when pirate raids forced them in land from their cities. The Romans continued the practice of burials in the area and they have provided rich archaeological evidence for many cultures from the Bronze age right into the Christian age with the caves being finally deserted after the 1693 earthquake.
The scenery changed on the way, with volcanic rock giving way to limestone and craggy mountains appearing on the edge of the flatter coastal land. As we approached Ispica, drystone walls separated the fields and we saw many pomegranate, carob and walnut trees. As we walked around the site, carob pods lay all over the ground, the fermenting fruit filling the air with a pungent, sweet scent.
The site itself is based at the northern end of the gorge where there is a particularly dense collection of caves and we spent some time exploring them. Most had rock-cut, man-size slots in the floors and often in the walls although some had small pits, presumably for cremations burials. A fascinating site.
We walked a little further north to see 'Our Lady's Grotto' and, just by the car park, 'St. Nicolas's Grotto', complete with faded frescoes. We could have walked down the valley towards Ispica but decided to move on back to the coast to Camping Scarabeo at Punta Braccetto. This turned out to be a small but very impressive site next to the beach, full of flowering plants and with lovely pitches. We were welcomed by the Swiss couple next to us and I said how nice we thought the campsite was. They agreed but said that there was a problem with flies and as soon as we sat outside we saw the problem. And felt the problem – they crawled all over you and it was impossible to get rid of them. Subsequently we were told that they are come from Tunisia, which is very close, and appear when the wind is in a certain direction. We were told that they had been much worse over the last few days, so we hope that they are on the decline.
Photos: The fertile valley at Cava D'Ispica with cave dwellings visible in the cliff face; The 'Ipogei del Camposanto', a pre-historic dwelling reused as a tomb; A complex of caves eroded by the elements and probably damaged in the 1693 earthquake.

Sunday 25th October 2009 - Siracusa, Sicily, Italy

The clocks went back last night so we were able to get an early start for the Archaeological Park. There was a short shower over breakfast but the weather was definitely improving – fresher and lots of blue sky visible.
The short walk took us past the large coach park with the inevitable souvenir stalls to the park entrance. Here we saw the enormous, 200m long altar to Zeus Eleutherios (the giver of freedom) built by Hieron II in the 3rd century BC. It is the largest altar in the whole of the Greek empire and was the scene of massive sacrifices, Diodorus wrote that 450 bulls were killed in one of the annual feasts.
The Greek (inevitably modified by the Romans) theatre capable of holding 15,000 people and backed by a Nymphaeum, the water being by a tunnel cut through the rock. Sat in the seats of the theatre there is a view over the sea and in ancient times, without the modern buildings, it would have been even better. It was easy to imagine watching a performance of a Greek play with the sound of the water from the Nyphaeum and that view over the stage.
The other part of the park was one of the quarries that supplied the stone for the building of the ancient city. There were two natural caves in the quarry, the first the 'Orecchio del Dionisio' (The Ear of Dionysius) being shaped like an ear, high and going deep into the cliff in a twisted passage. The acoustics were remarkable and a single clap of the hands sounded like a rifle shot with a ricochet provided by the echo. The second cave was used in more modern times by rope makers, the dampness of the cave making it easier to make the ropes as the fibres were less likely to break. Unfortunately we weren't able to go into the second cave or explore the rest of the quarry. Although there were paths going off into the quarry, they were blocked and it was obvious that they had been out of bounds for a while. We inspected the Roman Amphitheatre with its central tank to collect the blood from the animals and humans killed for entertainment. The position of the lift used to raise animals into the ring was clearly visible.
After leaving the park we decided to check out the other two quarries behind the park. All of the quarries were used as a prison to hold the 7000 Athenians captured after their disastrous attempt to defeat defeat Syracuse in the Great Expedition of 415 BC with the largest fleet that ever sailed from Athens. They were badly organised and suffered from diseases and were soundly defeated, their generals executed and many of the Athenians made into slaves. The rest of the Greek world took a very dim view of this – killing Greeks in a battle was one thing but imprisoning Greeks for seven years in appalling conditions and enslaving them was wholly unacceptable. Once again, the quarries obviously had been open to the public at one time but they were now overgrown and securely fenced with padlocked gates. We were however able to see into them and the Latomia (pit) di Santa Venera was particularly fascinating. The rock was covered with niches cut for Greek and Roman cemeteries. We saw the tomb claimed to be that of Archimedes although there is absolutely no evidence to support the claim.
The afternoon was spent relaxing and reading in the sunshine and in the afternoon we decided to visit a more modern monument. Opposite the archaeological museum is a striking modern building shaped like a thin up-turned ice cream cone. This is the Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime (the Sanctuary of Madonna of Tears) built in 1994 to hold the statue of the Madonna that allegedly wept for five days in 1953. It is now an important place of pilgrimage and it was busy every time that we passed it. There were many people in the sanctuary when we visited and it took us a while to work out where the statue was. It was only when someone put some money in a box that the, much smaller than we expected, statue in the wall above the altar was lit. The building dominates the skyline from many parts of the city and is meant to look like a teardrop. The view from inside looking up into the conical roof is quite impressive but we noticed that they are already having to do extensive repairs to the roof on the outside.
Photos: The massive Altar of Hieron II; The Greek Theatre; Latomia del Paradiso; The Ear of Dionysius cave; The conical ceiling of The Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime.

Saturday 24th October 2009 – Siracusa, Sicily, Italy

We wanted to see Siracusa (Syracuse), intending to stop at a campsite a few kilometres outside the city and travelling in by bus. However I discovered that there was an aire in the centre of the city and, checking the location, it turned out to be very close to the archaeological museum.
We got an early start and decided to take the motorway so that we could get a look at the city today. Jane thinks that she might have seen the bottom of Etna but it was on the wrong side of the van for me to see it and the low cloud prevented positive identification. It was an easy journey into the city and we were greeted at the aire (also a coach park) by a man who explained that the cost was €18 for 24 hours including water, showers and toilets. He also gave us a very badly printed map that showed us that we were next to the museum and he explained that the Archaeological Park was 10 minutes walk and 20 minutes would take us to the old part of the city. Although the aire was more expensive than the campsite that we were going to use, that was more than compensated for by the convenience of the location. The pitches were very pleasant – lots of room and level with plenty of electrical points and taps. The toilet and shower block however were not good and the gents was in a poor state of repair and dirty.
We bought a combined ticket at the museum that also covered the archaeological park and were looking at the exhibits by 11:30. The visiting hours had been extended to cover the whole day (09:00 to 19:00) so we didn't have to rush the visit. The brochure showed four large rooms, A to D with E and F due for completion in 2009. As often happens with Italian (and Greek) museums, some rooms were closed, so we only had rooms B and C and there was no sign of E and F being opened in the near future. It was obvious that they had squeezed in some exhibits from A and D into the open rooms but this was at the expense of some large sculptures.
The museum was well laid out with lots of high quality pottery although surprisingly little in the way of precious metals (plundered by looters or more important museums?). Of particular interest were the many votive offerings from a Greek temple of Demeter. They had found thousands of statues of Demeter buried at the temple and had exhibited a sample of the different styles demonstrating how common each one was by the number exhibited. It was strange to see so many statues lining the display cases and I could imagine the stalls outside the temple - “Come and get your Demeter offerings here! I've got the Goddess on her own or with a torch or with a piglet. For you madam we have a very special model with the torch and piglet and at a very special price!”.
We walked back to Henrietta for lunch and decided not to rush the Archaeological Park (it closed at 16:00), so we walked down to the city. Ortigia is a small island just a few metres off the mainland and now joined to it by three separate bridges. Because of its defensive qualities and an abundance of fresh springs, this was the site of ancient Syracuse and the second place in Sicily to be colonised by Corithian Greeks in 733 BC. This was just one year after pioneers from Naxos landed further north on the east coast and, with little originality, named their new city Naxos. Crossing over to the island we were soon greeted by the ruins of a large temple to Apollo, part of which was once used as a church.
The highlight of the visit to Ortigia was the Duomo, not just another ornate Italian church but a very important archaeological site. The Piazza Duomo is lovely in itself, surrounded by beautiful 17th and 18th century buildings but the Duomo dominates the square. An ornate Baroque façade replaced the Norman one that collapsed during the 1693 earthquake. Inside there is also a Norman stone font but the history of the building goes back much further. The building started life as a temple to Athena in the early 6th century BC, famous throughout the Greek world due to the opulence of its decoration. The doors were made of ivory and gold and the walls painted with military scenes and portraits of the tyrants of Syracuse – claimed to be the earliest example of portraiture in Europe. During the Roman period it was converted into a Christian church and this ensured its survival. Viewed from the Via Minerva the Doric columns can be seen in their original positions forming part of the structure of the church. Inside it is even clearer with the columns lining the aisles on either side and some of the wall of the temple cella (the holiest part) still in position. On the western side, the columns are misaligned and sections have shifted by a few centimetres, showing how close the structure came to collapse in the 1693 earthquake.
The other piazzas of the island are quite pretty but the most interesting parts of the town are definitely the warren of narrow streets full of interesting architecture of many ages and styles. Ortigia is very much lived in rather than being a tourist town and many of the families are obviously poor, squeezed into tiny terraced houses. But everywhere there were narrow alleys and arches leading to tiny open squares where the owners grew flowers in pots under the towering walls of the encroaching houses. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to Ortigia we spent a very pleasant afternoon there and didn't get back to the van until 18:45.
Photos: The Temple of Apollo; The outside of the Duomo with the Doric columns and Norman battlements clearly visible; The columns lining the inside of the eastern isle; A typical Ortigia street; The security was tight at Parcheggio Von Platen – the searchlights were used at night and the guards carried sub-machine guns! There were three of these lookouts around the edge of the parking and it does make one wonder why they thought that they needed them.