We weren’t particularly sad to leave Marsala behind this morning. The area is very flat, with very little history compared to where we’ve been so far and quite run down in comparison. We’re still glad we went though – the wine tasting was lots of fun, the hotel lovely (even if the parking arrangements were a little dodgy) and the historic centre of the town very pretty. Plus it felt good to have reached the western end of the island!
After about 40 minutes of slow-ish traffic on a very straight road with the most random speed limits…
…we started to hit rolling hills and stunning views again. The south of the island is even more arid than the north, but stunning with it, and it amazes us quite how much manages to grow here: the hills are covered with olive and citrus trees, as well as large numbers of vines. Like yesterday’s journey, there were also plenty of impressive viaducts to ease the journey!
Via a brief stop at a supermarket to grab some lunch, we arrived at our B&B in Agrigento. Yet again, we were disappointingly led to a room with no view, having booked a suite with a balcony, which would have afforded stunning vistas across the valley. Apparently, there is a problem with the bathroom in the room we should have been staying in, but again there was very little apology and no discount offered. Luckily for the owner, we were in a rush, as we had a tour of the Valley of the Temples booked, so we had to rush off before things got too heated.
My research before the holiday had informed me that the Valle dei Templi is notoriously hard work – hilly, dusty and very hot. Luckily, it had also helped me discover “Easyway Tours”, which we had duly booked. Therefore, having arrived and paid the entrance fee, we went straight to the hut just inside to meet with our guide, Donatella. We then, after a very quick lesson, set off on electric scooters!
The whole tour was absolutely fantastic. Not only is it a simply stunning and amazingly historic site, but it was so fabulous to have a tour guide to ourselves (and to see the very jealous faces as we whipped past on our scooters)! As well as simple but informative talks at each of the temples, Donatella also introduced us to the local produces, taking fresh almonds and figs off the trees and cutting prickly pairs from a cactus for us to try. The prickly pairs were particularly interesting, as we have seen them growing at the side of the roads everywhere we’ve driven and not known what they are! In addition, she insisted in taking photos of the two of us at every point, which amused us greatly, as we don’t normally bother with that sort of thing, but actually we’re really happy to have those memories now.
(Apparently, all of the temples would have been painted white and decorated something like this model.)
Finally, she took us to see the goats!
These are a local phenomenon, distinguished by their spiral horns, which both males and females have. All in all, it was a truly fun and fascinating 2 and a half hours and we would definitely recommend it as the perfect way to tour the valley. Our only disappointment was the weather, which had turned cloudy – great for taking the temperature down a little, but not great for photos. However, as we reached our final temple, the weather gods blessed us with some lovely evening light, which continued as we drove back down the hill, providing perfect conditions for Tom to send up his drone and take some truly unique holiday photos and video of the temples!
Back at the hotel, I had a lovely and much needed catch up with my big sister, who I haven’t seen since the middle of July, as she was away before us. Now we’re settling down for our final “hotel picnic” (accompanied by gin and tonics with lime from the tree in the garden here) before heading to our igloos tomorrow! We’re so excited and very ready for a week of chilling 🙂
Recommendations
Easy Way electric bike tour at Agrigento – www.easywaytour.com
Valley of the Temples – Simply stunning!