9th Day - Agrigento

Today there was no lazy weather, but the best sun for new activities. So I set off to Agrigento, a good 2.5 hours drive away.

I was very excited!

The first 60km were on the highway to Castelvetrano, which was a breeze. By the way, I wasn't completely right about toll-free highways, yesterday there was a toll section after Palermo. I had to pay €0.90 until Cefalu.

But today everything was free again. I can't explain why the south of Sicily is not connected by highway, especially Agrigento is a tourist attraction and can only be reached by side roads from all sides...

So from Castelvetrano I drove 100km on the side road along the coast. It took quite a while, especially when I had trucks or buses in front of me. Even though the Italians are almost as fond of overtaking as the Romanians (@Dori), I didn't plan on holding my breath prematurely on one of the many bridges. Still, I adapt to the local driving style :-) Today, for example, I was rarely overtaken.

The speed limit on each highway exit is 40km - and of course NO ONE follows it! And it's completely unnecessary, the exits are not that dangerous, maybe just slightly shorter than ours.

Speaking of bridges, Sicilians love highways on stilts. Not only are there plenty of normal bridges, but also long stretches that are 2 or 3 meters higher than the surrounding land. Actually, I would think that it's more expensive to build a route like that, but maybe I'm wrong.

Today there were some magnificent bridges on the way. Incredibly long AND high bridges. Sometimes I felt a bit dizzy when looking down.

And then imagine what happened (although it was on the way back, it fits well here). On one of these high bridges, there was a construction site and only one direction could pass the bridge at a time. The others had to wait at a traffic light. The queue crawled onto the bridge, the light turned red in front of me. Well, I admit that the traffic light was only about 1.20 meters high and maybe not very visible. But I stopped... and I was the only one. At least 10 more cars overtook me (and the red traffic light) on the left and just swerved onto the bridge... I couldn't believe it. Only a tour bus stopped behind me (it wouldn't have fit past me anyway). Suddenly a very sporty black car overtook the bus... and then stopped next to me, in the second row on normal road. I just acted like I didn't see anything and looked ahead. The first trucks came towards us from the bridge, now it was tight for my sporty neighbor. He tried to squeeze in front of me. But it was only enough for a slight diagonal position. That earned him loud honking from the trucks. They almost shaved his fender... Served him right, and I laughed my head off. Yes, Sicilians have a special driving style... not everyone will quickly get used to it. Nevertheless, it works well, everyone knows the rules and looks out for each other. It's just a bit more complex to always keep an eye on the right and left lanes when driving, but you get used to it :-)

But now I'm totally digressing from the topic.

After many kilometers on side roads through mountain landscapes and past beautiful towns, I arrived in Agrigento. I waded through the hustle and bustle and by chance found a shady parking spot at Piazzale Aldo Moro. Well, it was a disabled parking spot, but I only noticed that afterwards. It was only a few steps to the pedestrian zone.

Past beautiful churches and in...

I liked Agrigento's historic city center. But I wasn't here to shop, I wanted to visit the ancient city ruins. So I went back to the car and continued through the city to the Valle dei Templi. The ancient city with its different temple districts extends over a large area in front of the city. Designed for pedestrians, I could soak up a good amount of sun while walking, at 25 degrees it was quite bearable. But who would come here in the summer with over 40 degrees??

There were plenty of temples, some more complete than others.

I found the remains of the city wall with small round alcoves interesting. And in the background you could see the sea...

Besides the temples, you could see streets and residential areas. I think the contrast between the temple district and the modern city in the background is quite fascinating.

Since I didn't know exactly how long I wanted to stay in Agrigento, I had a bag with things for an overnight stay. Just in case the return journey would have been too exhausting. And I preferred to be flexible and stress-free. But then it wasn't necessary. I made my way back around 2 pm and could enjoy a coffee in my beautiful courtyard by 4:30 pm :-)

By the way, for dinner I had Tagliatelle Carbonara a la Kerstin, I deserved it after the exhausting tour.

Sending you all greetings from Sicily and see you tomorrow!