This post is brought to you by my green rain jacket (since I'm wearing it in every picture of me from Sicily...)
We spent every night in a different hotel, and at LEAST 3 hours a day on our Fabio Bus (the charter bus we use here in Rome. Fabio is our bus driver, hence, Fabio Bus. Poor Fabio. I'm sure if he didn't dislike us before this trip, he now does for sure). It gave new meaning to the phrase "living out of a suitcase", because that's what we did. Not that I'm complaining though. We were able to see pretty much the entire island, and we experienced some amazing food (like, I can't even describe how good the food was), and have some good stories about nearly freezing to death in one hotel.
Sicily is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. My heart will always belong to Colorado, and I love the history of Israel's landscape, but Sicily is just so appealing to the eye. Everywhere there were rolling green hills, beautiful views of the bright blue Mediterranean Sea, and even some "mountains" (i.e. volcanoes) that reached to about 9,000ft. It had something for everyone, whether you like beaches, mountains, hills- anything. And more often than not, you could get all three at once! Add in some doric temples, and what else could you need?
Our main focus was on the Greek colonies that were in Sicily...so it was kind of a digression from what we had been studying before our trip (the beginnings of Imperial Rome).
Ajax falling on his sword (from the Iliad, look it up)
The tomb of the diver
Julius Caesar coins!
"Franco Surprise!" Temples by night
"Happy Students" (Franco's way of saying, "smile")
Temple to Hera I
Temple to Athena
Underground shrine?
Climbing a hill...
The ocean! And the back of Franco's head
These shots are all from Paestum and Velia, which technically aren't in Sicily. We visited these places before embarking on a ferry from Naples, which in turn took us to Sicily. The ferry was an experience...I had never been on a boat before. It was alright, but I was glad when it was time to get off. It wasn't first class by any means.
Here are some pictures of Cefalu and Taormina
Geologic Outcrops. scoree
The biggest mosaic of Jesus' head ever. (really)
Modern Taormina
Theater at Taormina
Amazing view...
A Carnival Float!
Our next stop was Syracuse, one of the most famous and most powerful of all the Greek colonies in Sicily. You could say it led to the Athenians' downfall, which is pretty legit (all thanks to Alcibiades, who would be a fantastic subject for a movie, in all seriousness). Anyway...
Spring of Arethusa
View of the bay in Syracuse
A church...built over a temple
Facade of said church
Shrine/Relic of St Lucy inside
Franco Surprise at the Market! (Prof Dora, Kirsten, Aimee)
Yum
Great Altar of Herion I
Another Theater...
Limestone Quarry!
Euryalos Fort (aka biggest Jungle Gym ever)
So that was just the first three days. Imagine another four. Yeah. Gogogogogo was the theme of our trip. Moving on...the next day took us to Morgantina and Agrigento.
Some Greek guys doing something (Vase from Agrigento)
Vase depicting katabolos, a drinking game in which you throw cups
Ruins at Agrigento
Sandstone is cool
Preview of the next day.../amazing view
Now, everyone knows about Greek/Roman temples, or at least most people have a vague idea of what they look like. Well, in Sicily, there are only DORIC temples. I.e. the most boring type of temple. Haha. Or least visually appealing. Don't tell Chris Gregg I said that. Anyway, I think we saw about 42 doric temples during our travels through the island. Apparently though, doric temples are like snowflakes; all are individual in some way. whatever is what I have to say to that :) Our next day at Agrigento and Selinunte was only about snowflake doric temples...
A temple at Agrigento
heehee.
Centro Professors! (L-R Scott, Dora, Chris, Adam) yes, Adam is wearing a rainbow scarf
Another....temple
All that remains of what once was the BIGGEST doric temple EVER
(and Owen's site presentation, Temple of Olympian Zeus)
A Telemon (would've just taken up 1/2 of the temple wall)
Let me just make a telemon call...
At Selinunte....
Column huggers
We got to go inside
Doric temple scramble 2011 (yeah, fall from another doric temple)
so much rubble to climb!
So I know looks like a rock, but it's actually a Triglyph attached to metope (I won a coffee for spotting it)
symbols
Reallllyyy old wine from another Franco Surprise
Day 6 took us to a quarry, another island, and yet another mountain/hilltop (apparently it's easy to defend things if you're on a hill. I guess that makes sense, haha). Here we gooo.
Limestone quarries at Cave di Cusa
More scrambling...
Ferry to Motya Island
Oh heyyy. Ephebe of Motya
Child burials on the coast
Conveniently located Aloe for your sunburn
Theater and View at Segesta
What makes this snowflake unique? It's unfinished
The view!Okay, I can sense the homestretch now. If you're still with me, you're just fantastic, because day 7 was the best. Not really, but I'm just trying to vindicate you for keeping with me for so long. haha. We went to our last ancient site, Solunto, and then to a cathedral in Monreale, which was just breathtaking, really no other way to describe it. We then had a whopping 5 hours of free time in Palermo (the port) before boarding the ferry. We spent it breaking a glass in a restaurant, being chased by rabid dogs (that may be a slight exaggeration), and getting caught in yet another anti Burlesconi protest.
Cathedral at Monreale- most gold mosaics of any church in Sicily
Adam and Eve
Lot's wife turning to salt
Another gold Jesus head
Lot's wife...again
Cloister at the Cathedral
Ruins at Solunto
Ahhmazing view (kinda a theme here)
The city built into the hill
Picturesque outlook complete with cross
At Palermo...Possibly the weirdest fountain ever
For all your church needs...
Courtyard at Cathedral in Palermo
The good walk shoes part of the title is from a little phrase Franco told us EVERY TIME we disembarked from the Fabio bus. "Happy students! We here at (insert site name), very beautiful, very spectacular, just for you. Make sure you have notebook, camera, and good walk shoes." Became a tad wearing after a while, but Franco is Franco and we wouldn't change him for anything.
Before we part:
FABIO BUS!
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