Today we went to Agrigento is another temple site on the edges of the beach (they definitely picked a prime spot for their religious temples, what better thing to do then sacrifice a bull or two then head to the beach). The temples here were very well preserved (minus the missing roof and statues and beautiful decorations) and absolutely gorgeous, however we were not allowed to roam the temples like in Selinunte which was kind of sad but they were much bigger so it's a trade off. Again it was a very hot day and I was forced to buy some cheap vendor sunglasses (yay overpriced cheaply made tourist stuff always located in the most convenient places). Because of the state these temples were in (being upright compared to Seilnunte's crumbles) there were many more tourists here which was also not one of the more fun things to deal with. These temples were beautiful though and I am very happy that I was privelidged enough to see them in person and not just on a page in my text book. After we visited all the temples we ate lunch in a gorgeous citrus garden (I was tempted to take the limes and pomegranates that were hanging in the trees around us) and then headed to the museum. This museum guys. It was such a struggle to get inside and we only had a limited amount of time before we had to leave. Once they finally decided to let us in we only had 10 minutes before we had to be back on the bus so we basically ran through the whole museum, only stopping for the really important things. Once on the bus we headed to the beach again (we had a compromise that we could go to the museum only if we got an hour at the beach, granted we were only at the museum for a short time we still got to enjoy some beach time). This beach was less spectacular than yesterdays and it did not offer a spot to change without being seen so we all got very clever and wiggled into our bathing suits to enjoy the warm water for the short time we had. Once our beach hour was filled we headed on back to the scum that is Palermo (I did like the city it was just unkempt) and ate dinner. I found a place with tortellini that was divine, although I've been on a mission to find raviolis and i have yet to find any (I'm beginning to think raviolis are a American-Italian thing but I will not stop looking). And here are some pictures from the day!
This is the temple of Juno, it doesn't look like much but it's massive when you see it in person.
A closer look at the Temple of Juno, here the raking cornice, cornice, and frieze is shown and you know it's doric order because of the triglyphs and metopes (I'm going to try and educate everyone with every post)
Temple of Concordia, in much better shape than Juno. Also of the doric order.
A modern statue of Icarus as he flew too close to the sun and was sent crashing to the ground, this is in front of the Temple of Concordia and it was quite difficult to get a picture without this one asian man trying to take a picture with him holding Icarus' unmentionables. Some people.
A small piece of the Temple of Castor and Pollux. Again I will stress my love of silhouettes and sunbursts.
One of the only decent pictures I took inside the museum (we were running so fast all my pictures are blurs)...(and the fact I forgot to change my ISO until half way through). This is the Ephebe of Agrigento.
And with that I bid you good day, hope you enjoyed!
Awesomeness!! Have Fun, Aunt Liz
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