Days 37 to 39.
Thursday May 23rd 2024
Erice to Agrigento Sicily.
This morning, we were delivered some warm croissants, free of charge from the owner of this lovely little Sosta. This is a very calm, chilled spot, still being developed but with a warm, friendly welcome from the whole family.
Meg loved it as there was a lot of land for her walks and there was a kitten 
. The first one she had ever seen. Bless her little heart, she obviously just thought it was a little animal to play with. Oh my goodness, it was so cute watching her waiting and hoping for the kitten to get close. She was on her lead as we didn’t want a nasty accident.
Sharing this stop with us were a few other vans, one, a French lady who travels on her own, fluent in Italian and goodness knows what other languages. She was telling us about the ferry she had taken from Genoa to Sicily, it was like a cruise, with a pool and a disco. We’re looking forward to experiencing that 
.
Saying goodbye to this lovely family and the other guests we made our way to Agrigento. This route took us past an amazing sight. A Greek temple sat amongst the hills in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t stop but read that there is also an amphitheatre there. It’s called the Temples of Segesta, we’ve bookmarked it for a future visit.
Arriving at the ACSI campsite (Camping Valle dei Templi) we parked up and then sat about waiting for the day to cool a little before getting the bus up to the ancient site. We met another English couple who were doing the same thing and ended up on the bus with them.
Getting off the bus we were initially confused. The campsite reception had told us that we would need to walk back from the stop to the ticket office and the main entrance. There were no direction signs so we asked a guard at one of the exits who confirmed, indeed we had to walk back, along the road with no footpath – to a roundabout with no pedestrian crossing – and then down another road with no footpath. 
How many people walk this route to see this ancient site every year? Gobsmacked but we made it unscathed.
Entry tickets are bought after you and your bags go through an airport style scanner. Gareth didn’t realise that he had his last Swiss army knife in his bag which he had to hand over. We told the guards we would come back for it later 
. If you follow our travels you’ll know this happened in Laos when boarding the train from Luang Prabang to Vientiane so this was his only one.
Anyway, finally we entered the site of the Valley of Temples. Not actually in a valley, rather on a plateau, this place was built by the Greeks and originally called Akragas.
Some of the temples were destroyed by invaders but some survive and are very substantial. The most complete is the Temple of Concordia, which owes it’s survival to Christians turning it into a Basilica.
The most impressive to me was a reconstructed Atlas or Telamon. They stood 7.5m high and featured in the façade of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. What a sight to have seen, these giants holding the roof up of the temple 
.
We stopped for a gelato and drink halfway, it was still warm in the early evening. The defence walls that remain have big holes in them which apparently were used as tombs.
Determined to retrieve the Swiss army knife, we walked back to the beginning of the site. The ticket office looked closed but Gareth could see the guards still inside, phew! Though this did mean that we had to once again negotiate the road back to the bus stop.
The next bus was at 8pm. Gosh, we were out late! It was just starting to get dark and when the bus came we were the only passengers all the way to our stop .
The plan was to stay another day and go to the beach, but the UK couple we met had been to the beach and said it was very disappointing and covered in plastic. How sad. Then, overnight, happy little dogs barked until the sun rose. I slept with my noise cancelling headphones so wasn’t too bad for me. Gareth normally sleeps through everything but even he was conscious of the barking.
Day 38. Friday May 24th 2024
Agrigento to Fiumenaro, Sicily.
So we decided to move on, just 10 minutes drive down the road to another ACSI campsite in Fiumenaro, this one called Camping Nettuno Agrigento
This site is right on the beach, a bloody lovely beach. We arrived the earliest we’ve ever arrived at a site , got sorted and went down to the sea.
It was lovely. Dog friendly and not busy at all.
Meg went doolally , she definitely loves a beach. She rolled in the sand, chased flies and sticks, feasted on seaweed and swam out to me and Gareth. This is the first time she has stayed out of her depth. It was lovely to see, though I somehow think she was out with us because she was worried for us. Bless her heart.
When we got back to the van we were surprised at how busy the campsite had got. Vans were certainly getting packed in, but still room for having awnings out etc.
Day 39. Saturday May 25th 2024 Fiumenaro Sicily.
It rained lightly over night and this morning Meg and I had an early beach walk, other than a person running, we had it all to ourselves. As we turned around to come me back the rain got harder so we were quite wet when we got back to the van . Not a problem as it was warm so we didn’t take long to dry off.
Today was spent on the lovely beach. More swimming for all 3 of us, just what the doctor ordered.
BBQ tonight yum yum xx
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