I know I have mentioned on past trips, but honestly the roads in Italy are so far superior to our roads that it is a legitimate embarrassment. Speaking of embarrassments, by the way, I love how I go all the way to freaking SICILY and the "President" decides to come here and mess things up for me. We'll see if it makes it harder to get out of the country. I cannot exactly miss my connection coming back!!
I got to the bus station in Agrigento shortly after 11am and there were no taxis there. I also inquired as to a ticket for tomorrow as it is Sunday, transportation is rather limited here on Sundays, and there is only one bus. He said I could buy it tomorrow on the bus and confirmed it leaves at 3pm. I wish I was more confident! Anyway, I started walking towards where I thought my b&b was and somehow ended up down the hill at the train station and there was one cab there. Hurrah! It was only 5 euros which means it was close, but it was warm and I had my suitcase.
The B&B looks rather central, because it is in the center of old town, but for my one night stay it is actually a bit out of the way. I should have stayed by the train station. Oh well, at least it is very nice! My room was not ready so they held on to my bag and I set out to get to the Valley of the Temples, the only real reason I came here.
Instead of trying to figure out another way, I paid 10 euros and hopped on the 12:15 tourist bus that goes right there. Before that I grabbed a roll filled with bacon and olives for lunch and it was surprisingly delicious. Anyway made it easily to the valley and stayed there in awe of the gorgeous temples and sea views for a few hours. Considering it is one of the most important archaeological sights in the world, it wasn't really that busy for a Saturday afternoon. During the summer, they open the temples at night. I cannot even imagine how amazing that must be!
I made my way from one end to the other and exited at the actual main entrance. Then I had to figure out how to get to the archaeological museum, which was farther than I thought and by the time I made the trek, I had little energy to look through case after case and room after room of old stuff. There is another part of the ancient site across the street, a Hellenistic-Roman quarter, and that appeared to be closed. So basically that hike was a waste of time and steps. There is a bus stop right outside the museum where both city and the tourist buses stop, so I just waited and hopped on the first one back to town and then walked down the main street to the b&b. You know you are in Southern Italy when it is nearly 4pm on Saturday afternoon and barely a soul is on the streets.
I arrived just before 4 and could settle into my room. It is in an old palace and is decorated in purple and I love it. A few minutes after I arrived someone knocked on my door and gave me some snacks and a little bottle of sparkling wine as a welcome. I will demand to always be greeted like this from now on. I took a shower and one side is open-ended so I then ended up with a flooded bathroom and felt terrible using every single towel they gave me to wipe it up.
Anyway, I set out around 5 to explore the town a little before dinner. It is extremely hilly and most of the streets are staircases. I walked, I mean hiked, up to the Duomo, which looked gorgeous but was largely under restoration. You can see all the way to the aqua sea from up there! Meandered down through more streets and stairways and several more churches. Lots of feral cats and crumbling buildings in this town. It's actually a bit sad.
One of the churches I went to was actually being manned by a very talkative nun, who spoke to me at great length in Italian why it was ok for me to take photos in the church but not journalists. I had this pretty little baroque church all to myself, which was nice. Because again, it seems in SIcily, no one really goes into anything? The archaeological museum was also nearly empty except for a German tour group. Anyhow, on the way out, friendly nun shook my hand.
Wandered around and looked at several menus before deciding upon Osteria dei Pastai, a block off the main drag and empty. In fact the whole time I was there, no one else came in. Which is a shame, because it was delicious. I had gnocchi in mascarpone cheese with bacon and crushed nuts. The gnocchi were the lightest and fluffiest I have ever had. Then I had beef, which was a tenderloin steak somehow breaded and then cooked in some kind of oven. It was served literally in some kind of breading but I do not think it was fried? on a bed of armoatic roasted herbs. One of the most interesting steak dishes I have ever had. And not bad for about 27.50 euros considering how fancy it was. I hope they make it!
Tomorrow I am going to try to catch the 8:15 tourist bus to this natural sight by the sea, which is hard to get to without driving. Luckily they serve breakfast here a little earlier so I should be able to make it. They said they would keep my luggage here until the afternoon so we'll see what happens.
I took abbout a million pictures today but the wifi here is weak and they are uploading extremely slowly. Hopefully the wifi will be better at my next stop - Trapani! And it was 29,723 steps, 11.82 miles, and 118 flights of stairs today!
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