La Dolce Vita—March 7, 2007
Arrividerci Palermo! Nice breakfast and we travel to Agrigento, the valley of the temples. Again we climb, this time to see an array of majestic temples dating from the 5th century BC. After seeing some majestic ruins, we are standing in front of the most well-preserved Doric temple from that time, built by the Greeks who then occupied Sicily. The temple is made from sandstone, that amazingly has eroded very little over the centuries. Its original white coating only remains in a few spots, but the interior columns are still intact. We can see the structure of the interior room and the pediment is solid. We are about 2000 feet up and to our left is a wide stretch of the Mediterranean, slightly misty in the distance since we are experiencing a bit of rain. This first temple is the Temple Concordia, temple of harmony. We continue to walk and climb and see the Temples of Hera and Heracles. The Temple of Zeus is unfortunately a pile of rubble, but we see clear remains of what was once the largest temple in the world, as big as a football field and once 100 feet tall. We learn all this from an excellent local guide.
Traveling through the countryside we soon arrive at a ristorante and have a robust lunch. I had pizza with eggplant as it is very Sicilian and very good. Outside it is pouring now.
We travel on through the rolling hills and everywhere we see beautiful blossoms on peach trees, pear trees, and almond trees. The land is lush and green with happy sheep grazing here and there. We see a few horses and cattle, but it is just all so beautiful even in the rain.
Next—magic. We drive through the wrought iron gates, past a lovely fountain, and arrive at the Villa Gussio ([link]). A hot stone massage had already been scheduled for me and it is wonderful, healing, with the lovely scent of Sicilian oranges filling the room. The place is like a manor. The spa itself is luxurious and peaceful. I wear a lush terry robe and slippers back to the room. The room is a junior suite with velvet curtains, bolsters and other velvet pillows on a king bed. Everything is the blue of the sea. We have wonderful food, fresh juice. I have eaten fresh picked oranges nearly every day. Dinner was in a separate building, at once rustic and elegant with traces of its previous existence as a wine press.
We feel truly pampered.