Agrigento and Valle dei Templi

Next stop was Agrigento on the southern coast, which is known as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas (or Agrigentum in Latin). It's a fantastic place, definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It had 200-800 thousand people at its peak around 400 BC. The temples are relatively well preserved and are spread over a large area. It was scorching hot so it was good we brought water!

First off is the Temple of Juno or Temple of Hera Lakinia, a 38m long, 17m wide and 6m tall temple.

Temple of Concordia is one of the best preserved of its kind and I also read somewhere that it has given UNESCO its face (I haven't been able to confirm though). 

Temple of Hercules

Temple of Zeus, that has been almost impossible to rebuild an image of the temple, was massive - it was over 110m long. 

After Valle dei Templi we decided to try to find Scala dei Turchi or "Stair of the Turks" which has become a tourist attraction due to its unusual white colour as well as by its mention in Andrea Camilleri's series of detective stories about Commissario Moltabani. The rock is formed by mari, a sedimentary rock with a characteristic white colour. 

Scala lies between two sandy beaches and is accessed through a limestone rock foundation in the shape of a staircase, hence the name. In 2007 the municipality of Realmonte applied for the inclusion in the UNESCO Heritage List. Unfortunately we never got to use the actual beaches - next time!