Sciacca/Segesta (February 24)

Once again we loaded up the bus with our stuff after checking out of our hotel in Agrigenta and it was off to our next adventure in Segesta.  But first, we made a quick stop in Sciacca, another coastal city that appears to make most of their money in the summer.  It's very much a destination for northern Europeans according t the locals and you can see why.  The view of the Mediterranean Sea is amazing!

While in Sciacca, Brad was on the hunt for some fish.  We hadn't eaten any on the entire trip but we were all in the mood, with Brad leading the way.  It was 11:30 a.m. and we needed to be back on the bus by 12:30, not ideal lunch-eating hours in Italy by any stretch.  However, in talking to a Brooklynite-turned-Sicilian woman by virtue of marrying one 25 years ago, she pointed us in the right direction.  We found a little place not too far from the shoreline that was willing to seat us at 11:45 a.m.  Among the five of us sitting, we ordered octopus, sardines, muscles, and what looked like bass (but had an Italian name that now escapes me).  All fresh from that morning and so good.   The only problem was that we had to literally wolf it down in order to get back to the bus on time.  Still, it was very worth the potential indigestion we might have to experience from running up a very large hill to get to our bus.  Here's a picture of Brad savoring the moment before diving into his lunch!

Then it was off to Segesta!  Segesta is located in the Northwestern part of Sicily and was originally home to the Elymians, one of three groups of indigenous people to the province.  The two main attractions in Segesta are its Greek Theater and the Greek Temple.  The Theater is carved out of a hilltop that one can get to by a small bus, but he switchbacks were too sharp for our large bus.  And while the local bus was an option to us, we decided to hoof it up the hill, which was about a 20-25 minute hike and an ascension of about 500-800 feet.  Once we all caught our breath at the top we took in another amazing view of the land with the Gulf of Castellamare in the distance (see above left).

While up there, the students had yet another opportunity to display their acting talents by offering up scenes from the play Antigone, which was written around the time this theater would have been build, about 5th century BC.  Below is a scene where Polyneices, played by Pat Scanlon's son, Julian, is dead and his family is trying to take his body for a proper burial.  However Creon, played by Nick Polyzoides (i.e. guy with the active hands/arms), has the authority to stop the family from taking the body.  And again, what was once a tragedy quickly turned into a comedy.  I was thoroughly entertained but I don't think Mr. Davis, our Greek teacher, might not have found it as amusing.

Also situated at the top of the hill was an abandoned Islamic mosque.  The Muslims occupied Segesta during the Norman Period (12th century AD).  It wasn't took long after the mosque and necropolis were complete that Segesta was taken over by the Christians and it was, as a result, destroyed in the beginning of the 13th century.  For whatever reason, the city was abandoned by the Christians in the second half of the same century.

Then we entered the Greek Temple, also very well-preserved.  It also was built in the 5th century BC with columns measuring 56 meters high (about 183 feet).  Wow!  It is believed that the temple was never finished as evidenced by the lack of fluting on the pillars, a means of treating the pillars with vertical grooves, giving it more of a finished look.

After a long day, it was on to our third and final hotel of our stay in Sicily, the Bel 3 in the suburbs of Palermo.  While en route Danielle asked Niccolo, our bus driver, to pull over on the side of road where there stood a spire commemorating the death of Giovanni Falcone.  Falcone was one of the first judges in Italy willing to take on the Italian mafia in the mid 1980s, known as the Maxi Trial.  Upon sentences being upheld (brought down by Falcone) the top of the mafia food chain ordered a hit on Falcone.  On May 25, 1992, Giovanni Falcone was assassinated by a detonated bomb explosion under the freeway connecting Polermo's airport with the city.  Falcone's wife and three police officers escorting them were among the others who perished in the blast.