Published in the Battle Creek Enquirer
Bumping over dusty roads for more than two hours in a van that seemed to lack any springs or air conditioning made me cranky. Why had I agreed on a day trip to Agrigento, on the other side of the triangular island of Sicily, when I could have spent the day lounging on the terrace of our seaside hotel?
I began to understand why we had made the trip as we were seated for lunch al fresco on the Terrace of the Gods at the five-star Villa Athena hotel. The multi-course lunch featured incredible seafood pasta, followed by crab-stuffed whitefish. Dessert was a pistachio semi-fredo, a cross between ice cream and a soufflé. Many glasses of a lovely cold white Alta Villa Grillo wine followed. Our luncheon on the terrace was fit for any of the Greek gods whose temples we would soon visit.
The Villa, built as a magnificent private home at the end of the 18th century, became a hotel in 1972. The gardens of the villa surrounding the vivid blue swimming pool blended into the landscape of almond and olive trees. Our table overlooked the Temple of Concordia, an incredible masterpiece of Doric art from 5th century B.C.
Seeing this first temple took my breath away, framed by the bright blue sky. It rivaled any Greek temple I have seen anywhere else in the world, even in Greece itself. It owed its preservation to being turned into a church in the 6th century, which saved the fundamental structure of the original temple.
I don’t know if it was the five-course lunch that softened me up, or the free-flowing Sicilian wine, but my mood had lightened considerably when we set off on our two-hour walking tour of the Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Temples, a UNESCO world heritage site since 1997, just outside of Agrigento.
That city, founded in 582 B.C., was one of the most important and most culturally advanced Greek cities in the Mediterranean.
The archaeological park consisted of seven temples (and various other remains) built between about 510 B.C. and 430 BC: the Temple of Hera, the Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Heracles, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Hephaestos and the Temple of Demeter. All are situated in the same area on a rocky crest, not really in a valley at all.
Ancient Akragas, as it was known, attracted philosophers and poets who described it as “the most beautiful of mortal cities.” Today, it attracts visitors from all over the world, who stroll through the temple ruins, imagining their past glory. It does take a bit of imagination. Only eight columns remained at the Temple of Heracles, one of the most ancient in the Valley. For the Temple of Castor and Pollux, only four columns remained.
We wandered through the ruins along the Via Sacra, at a leisurely pace, walking off our enormous lunch. The Temple of Concordia was even more impressive close up, its elegant and airy colonnade six columns by 13 columns. We rested in the shade of a gnarled olive tree.
Ancient Akragas, as it was known, attracted philosophers and poets who described it as “the most beautiful of mortal cities.” Today, it attracts visitors from all over the world, who stroll through the temple ruins, imagining their past glory. It does take a bit of imagination. Only eight columns remained at the Temple of Heracles, one of the most ancient in the Valley. For the Temple of Castor and Pollux, only four columns remained.
We wandered through the ruins along the Via Sacra, at a leisurely pace, walking off our enormous lunch. The Temple of Concordia was even more impressive close up, its elegant and airy colonnade six columns by 13 columns. We rested in the shade of a gnarled olive tree.
I don’t know why I was so surprised at finding the quality and quantity of Greek ruins, unprotected and uncovered, jutting into the Sicilian sky. After all, the island was once a critical and important component of the Greek Empire. Now the Valley of the Temples provided just one more reason for a visit to modern day Sicily.