Marco and I didn't have much time in advance to plan our holidays as we didn't know how the summer would look like for us. Marco had planned a stay in England in summer to improve his English, but place, period and duration were still open variables. So it was only in the beginning of July we put our mind on this year's summer holidays. This didn't leave us much time for research and avilabilities were already limited and prices of flights pretty high.
Of course I would have loved to discover something new, but considering all this and having in mind our budget, we eventually decided to only go to Sicily. In the end this solution offered everything we were looking for: summer, sun, sea, beach, heat... good food... and all at relatively low costs. I had even found a very cheap return flight between Oslo and Palermo.
Marco had already arrived down at his parents' place by the end of July and I joined him in Sicily on the 2nd of August.
My return to Oslo was booked only on 20th of August.
Here "some" impressions of those 2,5 weeks in which we met friends, went to the beach nearly every day, both in the mornings and/or in the afternoon, went out for dinner and just relaxed.
These temperatures were standard at night - so imagine the heat during daytime!
It was indeed a super hot summer!
With friends (Eugenio & Valentina) and their little Luigi :-)
Meeting famous DJ Mamo from Bologna (that is Marco's former schoolmate, flatmate and friend) at Aquaselz in San Leone
Ciccio & Marina
There is no way around a freshly baked and warm "cornetto alla crema o nutella" from the Bar Fantasy on the way home from a late night out!
LA SPIAGGETTA - the beach we went most of the times, not far away from Marco's house. It's still a beach for the locals, thus not totally overrun and overcrowded by tourists.
I still got to know this place before it became a total tourist attraction a couple of years ago - not only due to its unusual white color, but also as by its mention in Andrea Camilleri's series series of detective stories about the Commissario Montalbano playing in this area. However, now, that is this year it was full of tourists and it will no longer be possible to go there "alone", sharing this spectacular place only with a few locals. It was just super crowded and one was lying there like packed like sardines. This is also why we had only been there once this year.
RISERVA NATURALE FOCE DEL FIUME DI PLATANI - to change a bit location we decided with a friend of Marco (Ciccio) and his girlfriend Marina to go one entire day to this nature reserve some 20 minutes by car from where Marco lives.
It was a very quiet and isolated place with not many people.
On the last evening we visited the "VALLE DEI TEMPLI", the Valley of the Temples which is an archaeological site on a ridge outside the town of Agrigento where Marco comes from. It is one of the most outstanding examples of Greater Greece art and architecture, and is one of the main attractions of Sicily as well as a national monument of Italy. The area was included in the UNESCO World Heristage Site list in 1997.
I had been there many times before, but this time we explicitly went there to take some pictures with the illumination at night.
The Valley includes remains of seven temples out of which three are lying pretty close together: the Tempio di Giunone (Temple of Juno Lacinia), the Tempio di Concordia and the Tempio di Eracle (Temple of Heracles).
Tempio di Giunone
Tempio di Concordia
Temple of Concordia was also built in the 5th century BC. Turned into a
church in the 6th century AD, it is now one of the best preserved in the valley and is ranked amongst the most notable edifices of the Greek civilization existing today.
Tempio di Eracle
Temple of Heracles who was one of the most venerated deities in the ancient Akragas (Ancient Greek name for Agrigento). It is the most ancient in the valley, dating back to 470-460 BC. Destroyed by an earthquake, it consists today of only eight columns.
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