11 Agrigento - Valle dei Templi & Scala dei Turchi

Map - 9 Taormina to Agrigento

In Agrigento, we first stopped at a restaurant for lunch - next to the Prefecture office... Good opportunity for a reflective pictures!

Ahhh finally - spaghetti and red sauce - at Trattoria dei Templi

Welcome to Valle dei Templi - a Unesco World Heritage site of ancient ruins from the 6th centruy BC. This is the Temple of Juno - the first of 3 temples at this site.

This is the location of Ancient Akragas, a wealthy city of as many as 500,000 people and one of the most important in Ancient Greece

This temple is similar in size to the Temple of Concordia - further down the road.

This view is from the Temple of Juno towards the sea.

Over the trees and in the distance, the city of Agrigento can be seen in the hills.

The citrus and olive trees were once an enormous swimming pool for the Ancient Greek inhabitants of Akragas. Eighteen tunnels fed the pool with water collected from higher ground that had been passed through a complex system of aqueducts.

These burial holes, built in the cisterns, are from the late-Roman and Byzantine eras.

As can be seen, these burial holes have some spectacular views of the coast.

Burial caves line the road from one temple to another.

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A dog lazing outside the nearby restaurant

Here we are approaching the Temple of Concordia, named after the Roman goddess of harmony. First built in around 440BC, it is one of the best preserved Greek temples found anywhere in the world.

Off to the east of the Valle dei Templi, the newer city of Agrigento rises on the hills.

At its highest point the Temple of Concordia is almost 17 metres. Each of the 78 columns measures 6 metres and is decorated with flutes or ridges.

Denise, Nancy and Ron marvel it the Temple of Concordia.

Our guide captures us and the Temple of Concordia.

Circumnavigating the Temple of Concordia. Left front corner.

Circumnavigating the Temple of Concordia. Straight on.