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After a tiring 3-hour evening drive from Ragusa, Noto and Modica (for approx 130 km distance, there are no highways in southern Sicily yet) we reached Agrigento. Even when you approach you see the gorgeous lighted Valley of Temples – the major and quite large attraction of Agrigento, for which we had planned to spare 3-4 hours.

Agrigento city itself is not something special. What I liked is it’s positioned on a small hill, with the Valley of Temples below it. So when you walk/drive along the streets (there were interesting restaurants and bars in the city, but nothing more special) – you can always enjoy magnificent views to the Valley.

The valley includes well-preserved remains of 8 temples (the Temple of Hera, the Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Heracles, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Hephaestos, the Temple of Demeter, and the Temple of Asclepius).

Temple of Hera

Fallen atlas in the temple of Olympian Zeus. Atlases were human figures standing in between the supportive columns of the temples.

There were also remains of city gates, necropolises, old Greek residences and a very interesting statue of a crashed Ikaro (made in 2011, it’s not ancient art).

Ikaro

With a very good pace, and reading all signs, the Valley of temples takes 3 hours to see. And it’s a must-see for a visit in Sicily.

Finally, we headed to Palermo (our flight departure point), intending to spend 3-4 hours to see the most of it. Well, if you don’t necessarily have special interest for this city, I wouldn’t recommend it. It very much resembled Naples to me – noisy, dirty, crowded and traffic-jammed big city! There were a few places of interests, but they were in reconstruction, or no signs to them, or not really impressive. The only truly interesting place was the Cathedral of Palermo, built in 12 century.

Cathedral of Palermo

Inside the cathedral square was this chariot..was related to some recent celebration I think.

This 8th part concludes the series of posts on my Sicily adventure. In 5 days we saw a lot and experienced even more. If you are an adventurer, and crave for different experience and different cultures – Sicily is a unique must-see spot on the Earth. Prepare to be amazed, disappointed, to taste and smell..and to walk! 🙂

Many people are asking me: was it expensive to travel in Sicily? Not it’s not. You can find gorgeous places to stay and amazing hosts on airbnb. There are very affordable Bed and Breakfasts, pick those with amazing views (check our breakfast view from the B&B in Cefalu). Outside the season even 4-star hotels offer very low prices, and the hostels in Sicily are surprisingly clean and centrally positioned. Renting a car is the better option for transport if you are 2 people at least, since there are many small cities to enjoy on your route.

You can reach Sicily using Easyjet low-cost flights, and they have very convenient connections in Milan with Wizzair (well, you might need to sleep at the airport like we did – but this makes the experience even more memorable!). The rest is up to your … enthusiasm! 

Arrivederci!

All photos are credit to my friend Neli Korsakova.

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