The reason we wanted to come to Agrigento was to see the Valley of the Temples. A huge archeological site, which has barely been excavated. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site and contains the remains of what would have been the largest Greek temple ever built anywhere, had it been completed. We started our tour in the museum and if we had lingered to see all the exhibits in detail it would have taken all day. We looked at as much as was feasible and then moved out to the site. Amazing temples which have been rebuilt, columns shaped as men and a lot more. By lunch time it was time to try to fit in something else. We had wanted to go to the Roman Villa at Piazza Amerina, but there just wasn’t time, so we drove back towards Trapani to see Erice. It was a fairly boring drive made interesting only by the speed Geoff drove to get there in daylight and the vagaries of the local drivers. During the two hour drive the sky got blacker and blacker, but it only started to rain as we got up to Erice.

Erice is a medieval town perched on top of a 800m high rock which rises above Trapani. There’s nothing new in the village, other than the pylons which lead up to it. The streets are sometimes so narrow you have to walk single file. It is also apparently the cleanest town in the whole of Sicily.

Although we hate rain, we got out of the car and got our cagoules on and walked into the town via one of the city wall gates. All roads are cobbled in a pattern of squares, and these were designed for summer use. When it’s wet they become so slippy they’re treacherous – even with my flying/walking boots. We hadn’t got anywhere near the pretty castles and the famous folly when the rain got harder and we sheltered in a cafe for a bit. When we got to the other edge of the town (and to the stunning views of the bay to the north) it was nearly dark, but we could make out the sea, mountains and the street lights of the villages far below. In daylight it would have been amazing. We walked round to the first castle and spotted the strange little folly below. It was too dark for photos, and Geoff turned round and said “wow, look at the orographic cloud coming in!”. Hey presto, two minutes later we were enveloped by cloud. We could hardly see 10m ahead, never mind views, follies or castles. And then the rain really started. We negotiated our way back to the car, tottering down the slippy streets as if we were two old folk trying not to step on the lines in the pavement. Occasionally the fog was illuminated by a flash of lightening and clap of thunder which made us jump. We were soaked. I haven’t seen rain like this since I last went to Barcelona with Wayne.

The drive down the mountain was exciting. We snaked our way down hairpin bends that were so sharp it was tricky getting round them in a Fiat Panda with a great turning circle; while the wipers were on max setting; we could barely see ahead in the fog and above us the storm raged. All this was no problem at all – it was the anticipation of some mad Sicilian driver overtaking us on one of the bends while chatting on his mobile phone that was disconcerting.

We got to Trapani, where some of the roads were partially flooded. Thanks to the sat nav, we finally found the street where our hotel should have been, but guess what… no hotel. I got out of the car to ask someone, and by the time I had shown them the reservation and walked the 30m up a hidden alley to the B&B, it was paper mache. We waited in vain for the rain to stop and then got back into our wet coats and boots (urgh!) and looked for a restaurant. Like in Spain, most of them seemed to have their rest day on a Monday. We walked some way from the B&B and found nothing open. I knew there were places near the sea, but we hadn’t brought the guidebook in case it got too wet and we didn’t know where we were. In the end we ate microwave pasta at a greasy spoon three doors down from the B&B. What we reaslised the next day was that we were 100m from the main drag along the sea, which full of places to eat. We’d just missed it in the dark and rain!

See photos of today.

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