Katy's Visit Part 2

Valley of the Temples 

The area just outside Agrigento known as the Valley of the Temples. Actually the temples are built along a ridge to act as beacons for homecoming sailors.

 

 The Temple of Juno (Hera)

 An atmospheric photo!

 The Temple of Concordia

 A modern bronze of Icarus as he fell to earth. 

 The Temple of Concordia was used as a model for Unesco's logo.

It is thought to have survived so well because, beneath the hard rock on which it stands, is a layer of soft clay that acts as a sort of shock absorber, protecting it from earthquake tremors.

 The Temple of Hercules

This is the oldest of the temples dating from the end of the 6th century BC - amazing.

 

 Time for lunch at the beach cafe....

 .....then a walk along the beach around the headland to Scala dei Turchi.

 The very smooth, white rock.

 It has been weathered into giant steps with a hundred foot drop to the turquoise sea.

Mount Etna  

On the way to taking Katy back to the airport, we had an incredible afternoon on Mount Etna.

 The highest point is at 3329m and you can see the smoke drifting amongst the clouds. Mount Etna last erupted in May this year.

We drove part way up, then took the cable car, then took an off-road bus up to 2500m

 There are four main craters and several smaller ones on the flanks of the mountain

 We were so lucky with the weather and, although we were actually above the clouds, we had amazing views through the breaks.

 A panorama showing the highest crater in the background, the largest crater next to that and in the foreground is the crater we walked around. On the ground the red is iron, the yellow is sulphur and the green is copper.

 

 The Button craters - so named because they are in a row like buttonholes.

 An incredible landscape!

 Looking across to another crater.

Action picture!

 

Licata and Katy's visit

Licata 

We have had an amazing year sailing from Turkey, across the Greek islands, through the Corinth canal and on to Sicily - 1,900 miles - not bad considering we average about 5 miles an hour!

We have arrived  at our winter destination - Licata marina on the south coast of Sicily. 

This is the view up to the castle from the front of the boat.

 Kingfishers on the boat next door.

 The  beautiful old Palazza Frangipane in the centre of town, now a bank.

On October 10th Katy flew out to visit us and we had a wonderful few days visiting places around the island. Our first stop after picking her up from the airport was...

Villa Romana del Casale 

This is thought to be the country retreat of Marcus Aurelius Maximianus (AD 286 - 305) and sumptuous even by decadent Roman standards. According to the Lonely Planet guide it is decorated with the finest Roman floor mosaics in existence. Following a landslide in the 12th century, the villa lay under 10m of mud for about 700 years so was protected from the damaging effects of air, wind and rain. The beautiful floors were excavated in the 1950s.

 The "Corridor of the Great Hunt"

This is 64m long and depicts hunting scenes of tigers, elephants, leopards, antelopes, ostriches and a rhino amongst others. These animals were captured for the circus maximus.

Detail of a horse's head. It is incredible how they achieve the shading in mosaic.

 Scenes from the hunt.

 Fish dinner along the coast from the marina. Happy Katy!

 The extraordinary cemetery on our walk up to the castle above the marina.

 The view from the castle looking back over the cemetery to the marina beyond.

We made it to the top!!

Katy's amazing photo of the marina at sunset.

Siracusa, Sicily

Siracusa

Having arrived in Siracusa bay on the east coast of Sicily, we decided to stay here for a while. Partly because it is a wonderful city with lots to see and do and also because it is a good anchorage to shelter from bad weather.

 The view of the town from the boat at anchor.

An amazing lightning show all around the bay.

Everyday except Sunday is market day in Siracusa. Not a huge market but great fruit and veg stalls set in the old streets.

 Piccolo tomatoes, grapes and unusual aubergine.

Spice stall with dried chillies and bamboo cones apparently for ricotta cheese.

 

 The "panini man" in the market that everyone recommends. Great entertainment and chat while you queue up for your lunch and lots of free samples of cheese etc. Every sandwich he made was slightly different and you had what you were given. Ours had lettuce, red lettuce, celery leaves, chicory, tomatoes, red pepper, olives, basil, mint, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, salami, ham, pork shoulder, lime juice, olive oil and herbs. One sandwich to share was really too much it was so big and all for 5 euros!

 Wonderful little shop down an alleyway, I love the hats as lampshades - and the fabric cactus?

Time for a drink stop in Minerva square - very Italian!

 

The main square in Siracusa, Piazzo Duomo. The tall building on the right is the Duomo (cathedral) that was pictured in the previous post. 

 

Papyrus and ducks. 

 

Fountain in Piazzo Archimedes featuring Artemis.

 

A walk up through the new town took us to the archeological park and museum. This is the Greek theatre there and it is completely cut out of the bedrock. Built in the 5th century, there are 67 rows of seats.

 

 A large area of the park is an ancient quarry. The quarry was created using an open air method of stone extraction but to reach the more compact layers of rock, enormous holes were cut down from the surface and caves were created underneath. This picture shows one of these caves called the Ear of Dionysius - given its name by the painter Caravaggio for its shape and acoustic properties. It is said that the tyrrant Dionysius used the almost perfect acoustics to eavesdrop on his prisoners held captive in other caves. It is 23m by 3m

From inside "the ear" looking out.

 

Behind the market is the Jewish quarter - a maze of narrow streets.

Narrow streets with ornate balconies. 

 

A view across the Temple of Apollo with the market in the distance.

 

In contrast, a very modern church in the new part of town close to the archeological park.

 

The super- moon rising over the town. Later we saw the eclipse when the earth cast a shadow across the moon.