May 23, 2018
Scala dei Turchi to Cannicatti
The plan for today is to ride to the Valley of the Temples near Agrigento, have a good look around, then cycle to Canicatti for our next stop. We were on the road by 9am, heading towards Agrigento. We took one last stop to admire the steps in the morning light.
You might be wondering what it was about the barking dogs I mentioned last night. Again, it’s a deep subject but dogs have a very tough life here. It’s not apparent that they spay or neuter animals and consequently there are many almost wild dogs in Sicily. We see them most days and it breaks our hearts. The dogs last night reminded me of coyotes that howl to each other in the night, lonely, hungry and thirsty. We see them sleeping on raods and piazzas in the cities or wandering the roadway and slinking in and out of the bushes in the daytime. Thankfully, not all dogs here live this life. We see dogs on leashes as well, obviously loved and cared for by their owners. And to end on a high note, many of them are Jack Russells so we get our puppy love fix on a regular basis.
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After a short ride along the coast, we soon arrived at the Valle dei Templi which is the site of an ancient city, Akragas, founded in 582 BC. We dropped off our bikes at the admission booth where we picked up the audio guides, then headed into the site. We were in awe of everything we saw. Experiencing history first hand like this is certainly a privilege and it is humbling too. This is one of the most important archeological sites in the world and a Unesco world heritage site since 1998.
The Valle dei Temple includes remains of seven temples, all in Doric style. The temples are:
- Temple of Comcordia which was built in the 5th century BC. is now one of the best preserved in the Valley.
- Temple of Juno, also built in the 5th century BC.
- Temple of Hercules, the most ancient in the Valle consists of only eight columns today
- Temple of Zeus, built in 480 BC
- Temple of Casto and Pollux, only four columns remain.
- Temple of Vulcan also dating from the 5th century BC.
- Temple of Asclepius
This site is situated on a hill below the city of Agrigento, a very strategic location. Even so, it was attacked and taken over many times in its history.
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We spent 2 1/2 hours strolling the grounds, learning about the life of the inhabitants of Akragas. It was a fascinating experience that brought back memories of studies of the Greeks and Romans back in elementary school. Notably, I recall cutting out pictures from our Book of Knowledge to paste into my report in grade 6! As the youngest in the family, no one had much use for the books after I was done with them. Now in the era of the internet, it does remind me of how much our world has changed in a short time and that it will continue to change.
We headed off for Canicatti at 1 pm. The route was inland away from the sea and it began with a gradual climb along a highway where we watched drivers take crazy risks to get where they were going. Even so, we did not feel any more unsafe as the drivers gave us space. We were pleased when we were able to get off the highway though, and have the road to ourselves. The climb took us through hilly territory where almost all of the land is cultivated somehow. It’s mostly vineyards and olives once again. At Favara we stopped for a short water and orange break then we continued on to Canicatti (cats & dogs).
Leaving Favara on a long descent, we saw dogs ahead on the road. Luckily there were other vehicles around and the dogs slinked into the grass as we coasted past.
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Canicatti is another ancient village with arabic roots. Finding your way through these ancient cities is incredibly complex because often the streets are no more than eight feet wide and are one way only. Mix in the streets with steps, ancient stone cobbles and traffic and...it takes time to get to our B&B each day. Thank goodness we are not driving a car and we have a gps to help us find or way.
Carmelo welcomed us to his modern, beautifully decorated B&B. After introductions to the pet turtle and parking our bikes in her garden (which used to be the garden of the castle), we settled in.
Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 368 km (229 miles)
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