Funny that the Valley Of Temples is located on a hill side…

Ok let’s step back. We are staying a few days in Agrigento on the southern coast of Sicily. Situated on a plateau with two rivers and a large natural harbor nearby it was one of the largest cities in Ancient Greece. The Greeks named it Akragas And when the Romans took over they changed to Agrigento which roughly translates as “Country People”.

Being a large city in ancient times meant many temples were built and later destroyed due to religious intolerance or to have their materials repurposed. Luckily interest in what remains stopped this eventually and the Valle dei Templi, or Valley Of Temples was created to preserve this example of Greek architecture. Containing seven temples in various states the best preserved one being Temple of Concordia which was converted to a Christian church for a while helping it stay mostly intact. Other temples were dedicated to Juno, Heracles, Castor & Pollux and Olympian Zeus which which had 37 Atlas between its semi doric columns. Located on the uppers part a curtain wall that ran between the columns the atlases themselves were 25 feet tall so this temple must have been huge. As in most restorations not all has been reassembled as it originally was, for instance the temple of Castor & Pollux has been is made up of pieces of two different temples but is the most well known temples via pictures around the world so a popular place to visit.

Lucky there was a breeze blowing so it only got hot hot versus stiflingly hot and for being a trooper as Daddy hauled her up and down this two mile long “valley” Sydney was treated to Gelato and an afternoon of swimming. ‘Twas nice for the parents as well.