Honeymoon VII – The Valley of Temples

In Palermo we rented a Fiat Panda, drove east and then headed south straight across the middle of Sicily. Aggressive driving in strange place with near anarchy came natural to Kim, so I let her do all the driving.




The countryside reminded me of Central California, like the hillsides south of Salinas. The difference is that you come across sights like this one, which aren't even listed on tourist maps.



I've always heard Sicily described as a poor area, but that wasn't apparent from its highway infrastructure. Rather than just carve the highway through the countryside like we do, much of it was elevated like in the photo above. It's mind boggling to think about how much this would cost. Two small bridges over the Mad River run at least $40 million, so how much did this cost?




Kim got to visit the towns where her ancestors came from – San Cataldo and Serra Di Falco, located more or less in the middle of Sicily.



Here's San Cataldo.



We visited a cemetery and came across a Giambra crypt. We don't know if they're related, but they might be. After exploring the two towns, we made our way to the southern coast and visited the Valley of Temples.




This is the Temple of Juno, built in the 450 BC by the Greeks.



Here's The Goddess in front of the Temple of Concordia.



And that's me.




This is the Temple of Hercales, one of the oldest at the site. As you can see, we practically had the park to ourselves.



Although this looks like the Michelin Man, it's Zeuss.



Nearby we found evidence of human sacrifice.



In the distance, we saw mysterious structures.



If they'd let me, I'd grab a shovel and dig for artifacts near these old city walls.



Here are some catacombs!



Amazing.



It was beautiful as the sun went down and the temples glowed in the orange light.



We drove down to the sea and got a room at an empty hotel. He had our own patio.



Here's the view from our room. The sky was dramatic. That night, we had one of the best meals ever.




The next morning we walked on the beach, then drove west along the coast.