Phoenix (already fallen) and Concordia (front – or back?)
Taxi services, parking fees and all kinds of souvenir shops mark the importance of a touristic site. Agrigento certainly ranges among the top 5 on cruise ship’s standard scale, but that is only one out of two reasons for early-bird-sightseeing. The second reason is the topography of the areal. Already at 10:00 AM = opening hour, the sun heats up the shadow-less terrain to 30°C (still rising) and I note a cross-correlation of temperature vs. cultural ambitions.
Anyway, I am here, it is culture and hence I clench my teeth and make my way to Roman buildings and their leftovers. It is similar to Paestum, yet more fallen apart.
The site is vast. With hardly any trees. And hot. Well, not in the “yeah, hottie!” way, but rather reaching 35°C before 11:00 AM. Most of the former temples are sized down to mere fragments, but even in that state it shows better quality than today’s average rental apartments.
Quite some stony puzzles to sort out…
… at least they have the equipment for it!
Eventually I make it to the most outstanding of all: Tempio della Concordia. Sito messaggero della cultura della pace nel mondo. Which means that it is old, important and forbidden to walk in. Fine by me, with the roof long gone it would not offer shades anyway, so why bother.
Tempio della Concordia (backside – or front?)
While the front looks exactly like the back, the side view shows the substantial size of the building. Must have been important Gods they worshipped in there…
39,42m – side view on Concordia
When I think back of Paestum and my survey a couple of years ago, I remember that I frankly admired the beautiful architecture, backed up with some accessories and decorations shown in the adherent museum as well as a bit of description of how life once has been. Here in Agrigento, it looks all dead. Indifferent, I leave it to busses of tourists that start to stroll in and move on to more appealing places.
Travelhector 