After surviving the Sicilian roads, we arrived at The Valley of the Temples, located beneath Agrigento.  

For a paltry 10 Euros, you can walk along a 2.5 km path which takes you by several ancient temples.  This place is Sicily’s main attraction for lovers of ruins.  It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Archeologists are still working here and trying to piece together the past, in some ways quite literally.  

This area of Sicily was not formed by Mt. Etna, thus there is little volcanic rock.  Instead we see an abundance of sandstone, filled with ancient sea creatures.  I suspect it was pushed up from beneath the Mediterranean.

Parts of a 12km wall meant to protect the original settlement still exist in some places.  The wall rests on the ridge of a cliff.  Thus, “valley” is a misnomer.  With this impressively thick (many meters in some places) wall surrounding the settlement and a clear view of the sea, the area would have been easily defended. 

The cavities in the wall were built by the Romans to house their dead.  Though, they could also be from the very early medieval period.  Who buried what and how was all very unclear.  Pagans celebrated death, often having wild parties on the graves.  They “fed” the new corpse wine, honey, and milk to help him or her on their journey to the afterlife.  Vases held or tubes transported the liquids.  All this annoyed the Christian priests.  Eventually the Christians flipped the ceremony, celebrating our births instead of our deaths.  I suppose since we have more anniversaries of birth than death, people went along with it.  You know, any reason for a good party will do. 

The best preserved temple is The Temple of Concordia, located about halfway down the walk.  It’s only preserved because the Christians turned it into a church.  They closed the space between columns, destroyed the pagan alter, and rearranged the furniture.  Usually Christians destroyed any antiquity they could find (eliminating evidence of the competition), but here they helped save a piece of history.  Accidentally and for their own gains, but a win is a win.  

I enjoy the juxtaposition of ancient ruins with the modern city behind.  There’s a lesson here about time and the permanence of our efforts here on Earth I don’t think many heed.  Then again, who likes thinking about death, or the end of things?  All these structures, built for Time Immortal, to glorify the Gods, reduced to a theme park.  Helps me not take anything I do very seriously.  

The Temple of Zeus was huge; clearly it’s the main attraction.  It’s the only one you’re allowed to walk in.  Alas, it was never finished; ultimately a huge boondoggle.  No walls remain, much of the stones in the area were taken to build other structures in town.  I don’t think the roof was ever built.  Trees and grass have filled in the basement.  However, with a vivid imagination you can make out the perimeter.  I wanted a product like Google Glass, which I could wear, that would show me what the original structures looked like on top of the remaining blocks — an augmented reality type thing.  I feel like it would make the whole experience more impressive.  Not being a builder, I have a hard time imagining how the rest of the structure fit together.  

The Temple of Dioscuri was last on our walk.  There’s actually another one in central Italy.  This is not that.  What remains is the symbol of Arigento. Surrounding it is one of the first planned communities, Olympeion field.  The Temple of Zeus was the main anchor.  All that’s left is a field of squarish boulders.  RBD commented, “So very disorganized.”  I think she wanted UNESCO to clean up the mess of ancient rubble and put things back where they belonged.  If only. 

We got back to Taormina exhausted.  In our apartment’s courtyard are a dozen or so orange trees.  Probably several hundreds of oranges are still attached to the trees, while many have fallen on the ground.  My compatriots have taken to picking them right off the tree.  I am mildly concerned they’ll be pulled off the plane in Catania upon our departure for steeling sacred fruit.  We all know what happened to Eve.  

They seem unconcerned.