Sunday, November 06, 2022

Valley of the Temples and Villa del Casale, Thursday, September 22, 2022

After breakfast this morning we left the lovely La Foresteria Planeta Estate in Menfi for Masseria della Volpe, stopping along the way at Agrigento and Piazza Armerina.

In Agregento is the Valley of Temples, a UNESCO site noted by Wikipedia as one of the most outstanding examples of ancient Greek art and architecture. Our guide for this site introduced us to carob pods that she picked up off the ground. Pretty cool.

Here's a photo taken by Kathie of the Tempio di la Concordia.
Haha! Here's mine from the same area - a 1,000 year old olive tree that is still fruiting.
Lunch was outdoors at a restaurant overlooking the "valley" (a misnomer because the site is actually on a ridge).
Then on to Piazza Armerina to visit the Villa del Casale, built by a 2nd century dude who amassed a fortune importing wild animals from Africa for the Circus in Rome. By Circus, I mean slaughter by humans in competitions to entertain the masses. Sadness. Anyway, because mosaics were cheaper than marble, the floors of the private rooms were covered in mosaics. Kathie took some photos. Here’s one of lady athletes. It’s not as upsetting as the mosaics of the wild animals being captured and transported.
Meanwhile, back in Charleston, my own beasts were losing their little minds and driving the daughters bonkers.
Dinner was at our resort, Masseria della Volpe, a large working farm with olive groves and fruit orchards. Hard to believe but this resort was even nicer than La Foresteria.

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