Agrigento & Piazza Armerina

On Thursday morning, Fabio, Karyn, Sam, Tess, and I got up at the crack of dawn to begin the 3 hour drive to Agrigento, which we all really wanted to see. The best Greek ruins outside of Greece, including arguably the best-preserved Greek temple ANYWHERE are all located in this city. I really enjoyed seeing the ruins and imagining what this majestic place once looked like.


Temple of Concord, the best preserved temple. This at one point was made into a Christian church, which is why it is so well-preserved... amazing - it's 5th century B.C.!


Temple of Hera

Temple of Castor & Pollux - this one still even had some of the original marble on top - wow!

Karyn was in heaven here - she loves Greek ruins!

The group - hotter than hell, and ready for gelato! Karyn, Fabio, Sam, & Tess

We stopped at this beautiful beach on our way to the Piazza Armerina. We had a wonderful lunch overlooking the water, and then walked onto the white rock cliff. I thought that it would be hot, but it was surprisingly cool and felt like chalk (left my feet all white too!) So relaxing!

All of us on the rock!

Our last stop of the day was the Piazza Armerina, which is a huge complex that was built in the 3rd & 4th century A.D. The mosaics were amazing, and were mostly preserved when the house got flooded & covered in mud in the 12th century. Much of it was closed for renovations, but again, it was fun to imagine what this must have been like in its glory day.

The "Bikini Girls", one of the most famous mosaics in this building.

On Friday, I celebrated my 29th birthday with a day on the beach. Karyn & I shared the wonderful dinner that I wrote about on my "food" entry. :) Saturday, Fabio and I got up early to take Sam to the airport so he could fly to visit his family in Venice, and then he & I spent the day eating our way through Catania. Our flight got in at 2am on Sunday... I couldn't wait to get to the airport, because SEAN was there to pick me up at the airport! I was sad to end my vacation, but couldn't wait to spend some time with Sean. It was amazing to see him, even though we were both exhausted. We spent Sunday together, but then Sean went to London to visit the city from Monday to Wednesday. I was the one that suggested he go, since I am quickly running out of vacation time (imagine that!), and he's been to Amsterdam, oh, about 5 times now! I was happy he got to see another city, but SO ready to have him back on Wednesday night!

Between this amazing vacation and my visitor waiting at the gate, KP was a very, very happy girl!! :)