Italian Holiday :: Day 4 :: Agrigento, Sicily

We were up early today again, at 5:30am due to the dreaded jet lag, but at least I made good use of the hour or so with writing up my blog for yesterday.  Then, we showered and went downstairs to another delicious breakfast.  The food offered was of the highest quality and most sumptuous choices, I had to take some photos ...

Breakfast ... delicious!!!

A wonderful selection of locally produced jams & marmalades.

Then we were off on a 2-1/2 hour drive to the south-west coast of the island to see an ancient site called Valle dei Templi (the Valley of the Temples).  On the way, we saw some farms growing lemons, oranges, grapes and then some solar farms.  I hadn't realised that Sicily is fortunate enough to be one of the sunniest places in the northern hemisphere and so, to capitalise on that there are solar farms everywhere.  In fact, it was in the province of Catania where the world's first concentrating solar power plant was built and since then photovoltaic screens have been erected on many properties all over the south-west of Sicily, sometimes doubling as greenhouse roofs for the vines and other plants on the farms.

Photovoltaic cells in a solar farm.

It's also a very windy place and they are making good use of that resource too, with wind farms, usually on the same site as the solar farms.  Italy is now Europe's third largest producer of wind power and as we drove along, we saw these amazing giants looming up over the hills like themythical Cyclops monsters.

Wind power generators.

We arrived in Agrigento on the south coast at about 11:30am and stopped in at a lovely little restaurant for lunch ...

... and then spent the afternoon strolling around the most amazing ancient archeological site of seven Greek temples, built during the 6th & 5th Centuries BC.  The Valley of the Temples is an Italian national monument and was included in the UNESCO Heritage Site List in 1997.

Firstly, we came across the Tempio dei Dioscuri (to the Greek gods of Castor & Pollux) ...

... then the temple of the Olympian Zeus ...

... then the Temple di Ercole (Temple of Hercules) ...

... the Tempio della Concordia ...

There were lots of Mediterranean-type plants around these temples - almond trees, olive trees and sage bushes.  Some of the olive trees were almost as ancient as the temples ...

This olive tree is estimated at over 500 years old!

... the Temple of Juno Lacinia ...

So, having seen a display of some of Sicily's constructions - from the most ancient to the very modern - we were quite weary during the long trip home, but collapsed happily into bed in our cosy little apartment that evening!