Sicily So Much Wonder - Agrigento and Valley of the Temples
2:57:00 PM
To me, the phase "Sicily so much
wonder" is the reason I chose to go to Sicily. Back in July, I saw a
huge banner advertising Sicily nearby my house and on that banner there is
a phase "Sicily so much wonder" with a photo of a beautiful ancient
Greek temple and it caught my attention. I love ancient places, they are
charming and the fact that there is so much history behind them makes them even
more special but there is nothing I love more than beaches and I need to enjoy
the beaches before winter is coming. Sicily has two of things I like the most,
ancient ruins and beaches plus other wonderful things like an active volcano
and delicious foods making it a perfect place to visit an enjoy my last days of
summer this year and a perfect place to take my mom to.
An archaeological site Valley of the Temples
or Valle dei Templi is the place I am looking forward to visiting the most in
Sicily. This UNESCO heritage site is a home to one of the world best preserved
ancient Greek temple, Temple of Concordia, and six other Doric style temple
remains including Temple of Juno, Temple of Heracles, Temple of Olympian Zeus,
Temple of Castor and Pollux, Temple of Vulcan and Temple of Asclepius. The
symbol of UNESCO took an inspiration from the 6 temple column facades of Temple
of Concordia. Valley of the Temples is located in a province of Agrigento in
the South part of Sicily.
The most recommended way to get here is by
car but since we didn’t have a license to drive there, we had to go there using
public transportation which is not the best. After looking for information on
the internet, I found two ways to go there, by bus and by train. It was said
that Sicilian prefers bus to train because it is faster so we chose to go there
by bus but first we had to take another bus from Mondello to Palermo city center
and from Palermo city center to Palermo railway station. Palermo-Agrigento bus departed
from Palermo Centrale Train Station. Unfortunately, the bus took an hour longer
to arrive due to the construction on the way. Finally we arrived in Agrigento
and the bus stopped at Piazza Fratelli Rosselli. From there we walked towards
Agrigento Centrale Station to look for a place to have lunch. After that we
decided to check out the train schedule and decided to go back by train as we
didn’t want to risk having a delay going back to Mondello by bus. After that we
took a bus in front of Palermo Centrale to Valle dei Templi. The bus took us to
in front of the entrance but not in front of the ticket office, we had to walk
around 900m to the ticket office and walked back to the entrance. From the
entrance to the Temple of Concordia and between the temples, it was also quite
a lot of walking and it was very hot and sunny in Agrigento in September. When
we arrived at Temple of Concordia, we were stunned by how big the temple is, it
does look beautiful in the photo but believe me it is much more stunning in
real life. Thanks to the sun, I managed to get a lot of good shots of the
temple. After that, we continue walking to other temples around the site. The other temples are not as well-preserved but are charming in their own way. My favorite
one was Temple of Juno which is locating on the top of the Valley as the
stair ways to the temple made me feel like I was walking in 400 BC.
Dress: Pinko | Gladiator Sandals : Pinko | Earrings: Stroili Oro | Sunglasses: Quay Australia
It was the best decision to choose to go
back by train, I found the train ride much more pleasant, the view from the
train is quite scenery, we got to see beautiful countryside of Sicily. The
journey time between Agrigento Centrale and Palermo Centrale is around 2 hours
10 minutes but the train did arrived in Palermo a bit later so I would say it
takes around 2.30 hours plus another one hour from Palermo Centrale to Mondello
beach where we stayed. I would recommend anyone who comes to Sicily to rent a
car but if you don’t have an international driver license then taking a public
transportation is totally possible. However, it is quite time consuming and not
so convenience so you have to add in a lot of waiting time to your plan.
About this outfit
I had my eye on this strappy lace dress and the gladiator
sandals from Pinko for a few months before finally bought them in July. I was
able to get the last pair of EU37 in Milan from the store in Via Montenapoleone
and had to size up for the dress. As it was almost 40 degree in Agrigento, I
thought it was a perfect chance to wear them and pull off a Boho look. I got
this gorgeous pair of rose gold earring from Palermo city center a day before
going to Agrigento and it matches with my metallic gold sunglasses perfectly. I
felt like a Greek goddess for a moment when wearing this dress and walking
through the valley of ancient Greek temples.
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