Monday, April 30, 2007
Agrigento - Valle dei Templi
Yesterday, we drove to Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples. Everybody said I would love it, and I did. It was breathtaking. It made me wish I could travel through time and see them in their prime. Some of the views made it almost possible to see what it might have looked like back then. To see the detail in the columns is unbelievable. I wondered how they shaped everything without machinery. Of course, by hand, but can you possibly imagine? Incredible. I'll post some pictures and some links, but I won't go on. My words do NOT do this ancient site justice.
I think we started at what most people do as the end of the trip, but who knows. There were no signs telling you where to start. And all we had was my travel book to go by, so I was reading and trying to figure out which temple we were at. I don't know where everyone was getting those nifty little guides... hehe.
We first started at the Temple of Jove/Zeus (Tempio di Giove). According to my travel book, (Frommers Sicily), it was the largest in the valley, until it was ruined by an earthquake. The giant in the picture was one of several that were used to support the lagest Greek temple in the world.
Then we made our way to the Temple of Castor and Pollux (Tempio di Dioscuri). It had 4 Doric columns intact. I loved this one, even though it was so incomplete because at the top, you can see so much detail that they worked into the rock. I cropped and enlarged the first picture so that you can see it too.
Our first attempt at daringly balancing the camera on ancient Greek rocks to take a family picture:
Another picture of the great detail:
My favorite, the Temple of Concord (Tempio della Concordia), simply because of how complete it was. The travel book said it ranks with the Temple of Hephaestos in Athens as the best preserved Greek temple in the world. It has 13 columns on its side, 6 in front, and 6 in back. I wish we could have walked through it, to see from the inside, but I can understand why it's not allowed. It would have been awesome though, to see it how they did.
There were a few others as well, and you can see my whole Agrigento album on Snapfish, and here's a link of history and information if you're interested: Agrigento on the wiki.
I think we started at what most people do as the end of the trip, but who knows. There were no signs telling you where to start. And all we had was my travel book to go by, so I was reading and trying to figure out which temple we were at. I don't know where everyone was getting those nifty little guides... hehe.
We first started at the Temple of Jove/Zeus (Tempio di Giove). According to my travel book, (Frommers Sicily), it was the largest in the valley, until it was ruined by an earthquake. The giant in the picture was one of several that were used to support the lagest Greek temple in the world.
Then we made our way to the Temple of Castor and Pollux (Tempio di Dioscuri). It had 4 Doric columns intact. I loved this one, even though it was so incomplete because at the top, you can see so much detail that they worked into the rock. I cropped and enlarged the first picture so that you can see it too.
Our first attempt at daringly balancing the camera on ancient Greek rocks to take a family picture:
Another picture of the great detail:
My favorite, the Temple of Concord (Tempio della Concordia), simply because of how complete it was. The travel book said it ranks with the Temple of Hephaestos in Athens as the best preserved Greek temple in the world. It has 13 columns on its side, 6 in front, and 6 in back. I wish we could have walked through it, to see from the inside, but I can understand why it's not allowed. It would have been awesome though, to see it how they did.There were a few others as well, and you can see my whole Agrigento album on Snapfish, and here's a link of history and information if you're interested: Agrigento on the wiki.Labels: Agrigento, Sicily, travel
¶ 7:25 AM
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That's where we started too. When we were there, scaffolding was covering the Temple of Concord. It was still beautiful though. I'm trying to talk Kevin into Selinunte. No luck so far.
How beautiful!! I have always pondered how long it must have taken to build one of those. Can you imagine the patience it would take?
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