22nd May - The Temples

Breakfast - we meet friendly New Yorkers - "Sydney is my favorite place in the world" says one .

We order a taxi to take us to dinner tonight.  

Off to Valley of the temples - we head out the door - Rosalina calls us back - she produces a map - drive'a 'ere - temple of juno - "park-ked 'ere - "walk-ked down'a ill" - great advice.

We park among the olives and almonds - the site neat - well maintained - "Siracusa this is how it is done!"

The queues long - the cause? - the arrival of the tour buses - tourists and school excursions - we are looking at the temple of juno faster than we expected - Bernie sits under a huge old olive and waits - the temple is photographed - the view of the country side that the temple commands is photographed. 

We look at the avenue that leads to the Temple of Concordia - we smile - it is indeed all down hill! 

Tourists wander - oldies sit in the cafe half way down enjoying water and orange juice - we join them but add an aranchini ball to our cafe table. 

School kids line up for the loos - they come and go quickly much to the relief of the growing queue of matrons wanting to explore the same facilities. 

We past the garden of the famous - it remembers significant modern contributors to the state of the world. I ask ChatGtp about it: 

This memorial path is located along the avenue between the Temples of Juno and Concordia in Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples. It features small signs or plaques that commemorate the “Righteous Among the Nations” and other notable individuals who stood up against injustice, particularly during the Holocaust and in defense of human rights.

Onwards past tombs - down the smooth wide avenue of olive and almond to the Temple of Concordia.

We attempt to photograph the statue of Icarus - the Chinese and Japanese tourists have other ideas - they must be photographed individually with the figure - they must be photographed in groups - they must be photographed in different poses - I wonder just how good magic editor is at removing people from images! - we shall see!

Magic Editor? - Not to bad!

We arrive at the temple of Concordia - magnificent!

Just as it is time to turn around and take on the uphill climb back to the Temple of Juno and the little Yaris, along comes the Shuttle - 8 euros and we are both onboard - Bernie ends her time at the temples feeling like it has been a breeze! 

We return to the car park - we find the ticket machine - it steals our ticket - it holds on to our debit card - we fumble around - eventually it yields the debit card but holds on the parking ticket - I rush off in search of an attendant - I find one - he reluctantly follows me back - I don't understand Italian but I swear I heard him mumbling "bloody foreign tourists!!!" - when I arrive back Bernie had managed to get the parking ticket back - the attendant grabs it - shoves into the machine - grabs my card - taps it and walks away - for some reason I turn to follow - he spins around - he mumbles something derogatory in Italian and points at the stamped ticket sticking out of the machine - he storms off uttering what could only be Italian obsenities.

We find the car - Bernie heads for the exit - she heads up the entry laneway instead of the exit laneway - the attendant had had just about enough of us! - Bernie smiles at him - he looks angry but quickly he breaks into a smile - he will be able to entertain his kids at the diner table tonight! - never mind - as he is telling his kids about us we will be sipping siscilian wine and consuming siscilian food at Sal8!

Rosalina drives us the 400m (as the crow flies) to Sal8 - it involves a drive of about 5 kilometres and takes 15 minutes - such are the joys of navigating siscilian mountain towns!

We dine - the meal truly very pleasurable - for me? a vegetable strudel, home ravioli and a sorbet - the studel a homemade vegetable pastie - one of the best things I have experienced in a long time - for Bernie? - a caprisi salad, fish and a tiramisu which she described as a wonderful experience. 

The restaurant calls a cab for us and we enjoy a heated Italian discussion between the driver and a potential client.