I'm sure anyone who has ever hired a car, particularly in a foreign country, will identify with a small "situation" which we encountered on this drive. Suddenly, we rounded a bend on the Autostrada and entered a tunnel, of which there are quite a few here, but this was a much longer one than any we'd previously encountered on this trip. Fortunately, the road was two lanes, both travelling in the same direction. It was dark in there, and we were pottering along at the limit (80kph), with the cars behind us, as usual, travelling way over the limit catching us rapidly, as I could see their headlights in the rear vision mirror. Headlights! Shit, how do I turn the lights on? The lever on the left of the column wouldn't rotate and moving it up and down only turned the indicators on. The lever on the right of the column would rotate, and move up and down but all these actions caused was the wipers and washers to work. We both had visions of being hit from behind. Glancing around in the gloom I still couldn't see a headlight switch but our tail light reflectors must have been just adequate as we got through after about 1500m of darkness. Afterward, as soon as I could, I pulled over and discovered that the headlights operated from a switch low down on the dashboard on the left side. I can now find the switch with my eyes closed. 'Nuff said.
Around the time the Parthenon (Athens, Greece) was built, the indigenous people of this area, reportedly assisted by Greeks, were also into building colossal stone structures, as you'll see. As with many things in Italy, the process of buying tickets to view the structures was somewhat more complex than necessary. Eventually we thought we had it sorted, but discovered that in fact, if one wished to use the bus to ascend the considerable hill on which the theatre was constructed, one had to buy a separate ticket, but not from the bus driver or the main ticket issuing authority, but from the bookshop (Of course! Where else would you buy a bus ticket?). But the car parking was free.
In the distance, several hundred metres away, is the temple. It is slightly smaller than the Parthenon (but not much) and the Sicilians never did get around to putting a roof on it as they were interrupted by the arrival in around 420 BC of a bunch of pesky Carthaginians who forcibly took over the running of affairs, and you know where that ended up. Pic taken from the hill which accommodates the theatre.
We chose to visit the temple first, and climbed to its impressive site by foot, there being no alternative.
The temple has 36 Doric columns, and is 61 metres long and 26 metres wide (according to The Thinking Traveller).
It's impressive, close up, even though Sicilian weather has ravaged the stone in the 2,500 years or so since the building was erected. Note the el-cheapo fence, made from tree branches cut to size and intended to protect the stone against the predations of visitors.
It's largely intact, with a few recent bracing elements added to minimise the effects of ageing. It has no sculptures on the end faces, however. Not many visitors today.
And a selfie.
At the top of the temple climb the Sicilian authorities had provided a couple of wooden benches and it was on one of these that we sat and ate our picnic lunch, enjoying the wonderful view while pondering the fate of the people who built this wonderful structure.
View over the nearby valley.
Lunch over, we descended to the base, noting the relatively recent sculpture showing the way to the Teatro (theatre). The base on which this sculpture was mounted carried an interesting badge (on the right). This logo is known as fasces, a symbol which was adopted by Mussolini's party and from which the word "fascist" was derived. So, the sculpture probably was erected during Mussolini's rule.
The short bus ride (€1.50, return, pp) up the steep hill took us to the site of the theatre.
The backdrop must have been impressive 2500 years ago and it's still certainly so now, with more human constructions evident!
The latest, and nicest, of thousands of bottoms to have rested here.
I wonder if the higher seats were more, or less, expensive, in its heyday?
A very recent structure is now in view which would probably have impressed the theatre builders. Part of the nearby A29 motorway on which we travelled to reach the ruins. Given the generally poor maintenance of roads in Sicily (eg dividing lines faded away, rusting signage, potholes developing), we wondered how this and similar road engineering could have been paid for (possibly EU funded?).
We spent about an hour at the theatre as the cloud gradually dissolved and a light cooling breeze sprang up. Although we had a bus ticket to ride down the hill we chose to walk down and were rewarded with several better views of the temple en route.
A better view.
And some views courtesy of Google Earth
Today, Friday, is our last day in Castellammare del Golfo and as we have a long adventurous drive tomorrow, effectively crossing the island, from NW to SE, we're staying close to home.
Thanks for reading
Kev Long
Author iPad Traveller for iPad and Mac.
The technical stuff:
Our iPad is connecting to the Internet mainly through a cellular connection provided (prepaid) by the UK "3" network, including in Italy. On high ground and in town environments around Cornwall this connection proved quite good but many places, especially in valleys and in small coastal localities lack coverage so no or poor connection. So far, in Sicily, the connection has been good. There are quite a few WiFi options available although not always advertised. Just ask if you're unsure if available. WiFi is of course the preferred method of transferring large amounts of data but I have been posting these blogs and their images sometimes using only a cellular connection either from inside our apartment where possible or on the roadside.
The cellular connection gives us both in car and on foot navigation capabilities which are essential around Sicily, where mere printed maps struggle to provide sufficient detail at a manageable size.
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