{"id":1115,"date":"2017-01-15T08:46:13","date_gmt":"2017-01-15T12:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=1115"},"modified":"2017-01-15T08:51:45","modified_gmt":"2017-01-15T12:51:45","slug":"sicily-day-10-november-26-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=1115","title":{"rendered":"Sicily, Day 10 – November 26, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had an early departure because we had a long drive ahead of us. Our bus was parked five blocks away, so we were again grateful that the Rick Steves Company insists that its tour\u00a0participants\u00a0take only as much luggage as they can handle themselves. Once on the bus, Susanna received a phone call \u00a0from the hotel saying that one of the room keys had not been returned. Nick checked his pockets. Uh oh! He made a mad dash back to the hotel and then ran the whole way back to the bus. Off we went southeast to Agrigento.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
The first Trinacria\u2014the emblem of Sicily.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our first stop in Agrigento was its Museo Archeologico. \"\"<\/a>Yes, we had been to several archaeology museums already, but they all contain\u00a0different artifacts from\u00a0different civilizations. \u00a0Agrigento’s \u00a0archaeology museum has a dazzling display of Greek painted ceramics.<\/p>\n

For lunch, Nick had pork and roasted peppers, while I had Sicilian pizza (thick crust… my favorite). Then we were on our way to the Valle dei Templi<\/em>.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Valle dei Templi (Valley of the Temples) is one of Southern Europe’s most compelling archaeological sites.\u00a0Few Americans know \u00a0 that such exquisite Greek structures exist outside of Greece, but Sicily was part of ancient Magna Grecia. The Temples are simply breathtaking. Keep in mind that there are long uphill walks between the Temples. The fact that we had been there in 2005 did not make seeing them any less inspiring. Also, our \u00a0knowledgeable guide, Michele Gallo, \u00a0made the experience all the more worthwhile.\"\"<\/a>
\n\"\"The\u00a0colonnade of the Tempio\u00a0di Hera is still intact, along with an altar that was used for sacrifices. From there, we walked past an 800 year old olive tree and some\u00a0Byzantine tombs built into the city walls, to the Tempio\u00a0della Concordia. There are a few reasons why it has survived\u00a0practically intact since it was built in 430 BC. It was converted into a
\nChristian church in the 6th century and was reenforced at that time.\u00a0Also it was built on a layer of clay that has acted as a natural shock absorber. Next is the Tempio de Ercole (Hercules). Archaeologists have been able to restore\u00a08 of it 38 columns.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After that, there’s the crumbled ruin of \u00a0the Tempio di Giove (Zeus).\"\"<\/a> This would have been the largest temple ever built if its construction had not\u00a0\u00a0been interrupted by the Carthaginians and then tumbled by an earthquake. Then there’s the Tempio dei Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux). believe me, it is well worth the long walk to see it all.<\/p>\n

The entire group had dinner together. The first course was a fennel, orange and onion salad. Nick and I \u00a0knew that fennel has the same flavor as \u00a0licorice,\u00a0of which we are not\u00a0fond, but “when in Rome…” \u00a0or in this case, \u00a0Agrigento. Actually, the taste was mild, and the crunch was great. I haven’t mentioned\u00a0\u00a0that to Nick and me, salad implies lettuce, but that is not necessarily so\u00a0 in Sicily.<\/p>\n

The salad was followed by pasta, \u00a0and the main course was cod with potatoes and tomatoes. The dessert, almond mousse, was memorable.<\/p>\n

We had walked 9,831 steps and climbed the equivalent of 19 flights of stairs.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had an early departure because we had a long drive ahead of us. Our bus was parked five blocks away, so we were again grateful that the Rick Steves Company insists that its tour\u00a0participants\u00a0take only as much luggage as they can handle themselves. Once on the bus, Susanna received a phone call \u00a0from the … Continue reading Sicily, Day 10 – November 26, 2016<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sicily-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1115"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1143,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions\/1143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}