Friday October 14th
Last night at dinner we walked to a nearby Pizzeria, and from there fate took over. The man that was waiting on us was very nice, and he spoke perfect English, so he started running down the things to see in Agrigento. Then he went on to tell us about how he had lived in America for 26 years. Turns out that he had 2 restaurants in New York, one of which was called Village Pizza, which for some reason sounds very familiar to me. Anyhow, now that he has returned to the place of his birth he has taken to being a tour guide, because he is passionate about the history of this spot. At the dinner table he told us more about the Temples than we would have read in 3 different books. He also agreed to accompany us in the morning and show us around.
Enzo Cacciatore showed up in the morning with a 10 pound bag of peaches he had picked from his tree for us. They are huge! He lead us to Agrigento’s #1 attraction The Valley of the Temples. He really knows what he is talking about, and he really and truly loves to share it, you can see it in his eyes, and hear how his voice goes up when he suddenly remembers something new to point out to you. He was hilariously funny, and we had a blast with him while we were there. If you should come this way, make sure to give him a call or visit him at the Pizzeria Nobel a few hundred yards from the front of the train station. He had to work today, so we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked, but it was a great experience nonetheless.
From Agrigento we back tracked a bit to get to Eraclea Minoa. I am trying to avoid negative descriptions, especially if overall the places are enjoyable, but there was no saving grace here. In my own humble opinion you shouldn’t waste your time or your money here. The scenery is nice, but to me it was like being on a hike through the countryside. Drive on past this place! It was an absolutely beautiful, and very sunny day today (until the cats and dogs came down from the sky at around 4:30) and our time would have been much better spent by swimming in the brilliant blue waters just down the way from the so called ruins.
Piazza Armerina, which is the name of a town, and has nothing at all to do with a Piazza was a hike, so we struck out for it. It is home to the largest, and most complex collection of Late Roman mosaics in the world. This place was covered by a landslide in the 12th century, and remained underground until the 1960s. This protected the mosaics for sunlight, wind, water, etc. They are not in perfect condition, but you can easily imagine what the complex looked like in it’s prime. See if you can find the picture of the man hiding inside of a box while a Griffin tries to get him, pretty funny. The mosaics really are quite extensive, and it takes a little while to see them all. I’d love to know how many people they had working on these floors, and how long it took them to do it all. Impressive!
B&B Giardino di Pietra www.giardinodipietra.com was yet another lovely place. We have really been fortunate to stay in so many great places. Located in an old palazzo in Ragusa Ibla, just off a tiny street, in an even tinier side street. It is obviously very old, but it is nicely updated, and well furnished. The room is humongous, the ceilings are frescoed, and my favorite part is the balcony from which I’m writing right now. It looks out over a couple of roof tops, and then out onto the hillside where countless houses are climbing over each other. The way it is lit up at night makes it look like one of the prettier towns we’ve been in. We’ll see tomorrow what it has to offer.