Sicily Stop #2: Agrigento

I must admit that I have fallen in love with Sicilians. Every single person we have come in contact with on the island of Sicily has been kind, gracious, understanding, and helpful. Despite the fact that more often than not we are not speaking the same language somehow we are able to communicate and understand one another. And, from what I can understand, Sicilians want nothing more than to ensure we know where we’re going, how to get there, and any historical information they can pass along about the beauty and importance of whatever we happen to be visiting. I find it incredibly endearing.



Take the owners of our B&B in Agrigento, Il Mandolo (the almond), Rino and his wife Giusy: Rino speaks no English whatsoever, but he thoroughly helped us plan our three days in Agrigento. Using a map and our basic understanding of Italian, Rino provided us with a complete guide for Agrigento. Every morning during our breakfast of rolls, jam, and American-style coffee, Rino asked what we planned to do during the day, and then offered bits of advice on transportation and things not to be missed. He’s been incredibly kind and helpful, and always seems concerned about us.


We arrived in Agrigento late Saturday morning, which left us plenty of time for exploring. Rino suggested we visit the Valley of the Temples, so we did! The sun was out and the weather was warm – hot even! We took a short bus ride into the valley and walked around exploring the various templi and ruins. We were even able to walk around inside one of the temples where modern art sculptures were on display. The temples were more spread throughout the valley than the temples in Paestum, so we did a lot of walking (and I got a little sun burnt…), but it was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the sunshine. I feel like we have seen every possible inch of ruins in Italy – although I’m sure there are more ruins to see! Saturday night, Ian and I strolled hand-in-hand down the main street in Agrigento along with what felt like the entire town. Everyone was out participating in Passagiata! We felt so Italian; it was a wonderful experience!


Sunday morning we glanced out the window to see the sun shining high in the sky. We’re on a sunshine streak! No rain for almost five days! We decided to head down to San Leone to enjoy the beach. It was warm enough that we were able to lay out on towels in our bathing suits – I finally got the beach day I have been pinning for. The water was a bit too chilly for swimming, but I was completely satisfied to just relax on the beach and soak in the sun. I had to laugh because all the Sicilians out walking along the beach were fully dressed in long pants, warm jackets, and boots. They probably thought Ian and I were crazy laying out in bathing suits, but it was really warm! I don’t understand the Italians sometimes!

This morning (Monday), Ian and I set out determined to see the Scala dei Turchi, the Turkish Steps. We had to do a bit of hunting around to figure out which bus to take, and where we actually needed to go. Everyone we asked (the information center, the ticket counter, and even the bus driver) looked at us sideways, like we were crazy to want to take a bus to the Turkish Steps! Rino told us we had to rent a car, but I’m completely terrified to try driving in Sicily – Italian drivers are crazy! We finally found our bus and told the bus driver where we wanted to go. After about 20 minutes on the bus, he pulled over to the side of the road and told us to walk down the road and we would see the steps. Great! Just down the road. After walking down the road for about 45 minutes we finally found the steps. That’s why everyone looked at us like we were crazy! Remember what I said about Italians and walking? The “steps” were an outcrop of white rocks jutting out from the side of a cliff. We were able to walk around on the steps, which made the experience all the more interesting and unique. The steps were beautiful, but I’m curious why they are called the Turkish Steps…I’ll have to look into that.


Getting home from the steps was a huge hassle! The bus driver told us to walk back to where he dropped us off and then flag down a passing bus. But after we tried to flag down two buses and were denied, we started walking down the highway hoping to find a bus stop. The highway was very narrow, so we were walking right next to the cars speeding down the road. I was, of course, a little worried that one of the huge semi trucks was going to take out either Ian or me, but we were lucky and no one ran us over. A dozen cars honked at us probably wondering what the heck we were doing walking along the busy highway. Finally, after walking for about an hour-and-a-half, we made it to a town with a bus stop, and about 15 minutes later a bus headed to Agrigento showed up and pulled over when we flagged him down. We were relieved and exhausted. What an experience! Overall, we’ve had pretty good luck with buses and transportation, so I’m not going to get my shorts in a knot over one little incident. I’m just glad we didn’t have to walk all the way back to Agrigento! That would have taken hours!

Today we begin our one-week countdown. In a week we’ll be heading back to Rome to fly home to the states. I can’t believe we only have a week left in Italy! I’m going to put it in the back of my mind for the next few days and focus on enjoying our last two towns: Siracusa and Catania.