Selinunte and Agrigento, Sicilia, Italia
Having traveled all night long from Malta to Sicily, morning found us docking at the Sicilian port of Empedocles. After breakfast we boarded a series of buses and began our visit to the largest island of the Mediterranean: 10,000 square miles (26,000 sq. kilometers). Winding through croplands, verdant due to the early rains, we enjoyed different views of crops of grapes, olives, oranges, almonds and artichokes. Agriculture was to be seen everywhere in this part of Sicily known as the food basket of the island.
Eventually we arrived in Selinunte, a town with a large archaeological site, formed by the rests of a Greek settlement of the second half of the 7th century BC., which we visited on foot. Building E is a good example of Doric style, a large temple that was reconstructed some time ago. The city was involved in the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC), during which Rome gained control of Sicily. Rome finally destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, which ended the long Cartheginian influence in the Mediterranean. A very strong earthquake destroyed this temple, as well as its companion buildings, built by the Greek in the 5th century BC. The pieces lie where they fell, giant stones of a jigsaw puzzle.
We then visited the Acropolis, not far from temple E, which is now surrounded by the ruins of countless Carthaginian homes. The afternoon was used to visit the best-kept Greek temples in existence, Agrigento. These consist of the temples of Hera, Concord (which is the best kept of all, as it was turned into a Christian church during the Middle Ages), and the temples of Juno and Hercules, as well as the gigantic and largest of all temples ever built by the Greek (113 by 56 meters ), the temple of Zeus. This temple had 38 telamones or 7-meter high human figures, holding up part of the construction. We could see one of them, lying on the ground. Just a magnificent site!
Back to the ship, and to an immediate sailing, as we had many nautical miles to travel to Menorca.
Having traveled all night long from Malta to Sicily, morning found us docking at the Sicilian port of Empedocles. After breakfast we boarded a series of buses and began our visit to the largest island of the Mediterranean: 10,000 square miles (26,000 sq. kilometers). Winding through croplands, verdant due to the early rains, we enjoyed different views of crops of grapes, olives, oranges, almonds and artichokes. Agriculture was to be seen everywhere in this part of Sicily known as the food basket of the island.
Eventually we arrived in Selinunte, a town with a large archaeological site, formed by the rests of a Greek settlement of the second half of the 7th century BC., which we visited on foot. Building E is a good example of Doric style, a large temple that was reconstructed some time ago. The city was involved in the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC), during which Rome gained control of Sicily. Rome finally destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, which ended the long Cartheginian influence in the Mediterranean. A very strong earthquake destroyed this temple, as well as its companion buildings, built by the Greek in the 5th century BC. The pieces lie where they fell, giant stones of a jigsaw puzzle.
We then visited the Acropolis, not far from temple E, which is now surrounded by the ruins of countless Carthaginian homes. The afternoon was used to visit the best-kept Greek temples in existence, Agrigento. These consist of the temples of Hera, Concord (which is the best kept of all, as it was turned into a Christian church during the Middle Ages), and the temples of Juno and Hercules, as well as the gigantic and largest of all temples ever built by the Greek (113 by 56 meters ), the temple of Zeus. This temple had 38 telamones or 7-meter high human figures, holding up part of the construction. We could see one of them, lying on the ground. Just a magnificent site!
Back to the ship, and to an immediate sailing, as we had many nautical miles to travel to Menorca.
