What I really love about the school of ceramics in Sicily is that it's not only about seating behind the potters wheel for a couple of weeks, but it's also about getting to know the culture and spending time together as a group. Last year, we went to Segesta and I was expecting the same this year as the rest of the program was more less the same, so I was surprised when our driver took us to Selinunte.
He told us that our drive would take about 20 minutes which I knew already would be much longer as it was not my first time with this driver. I'm getting motion sick unless I or my husband are driving, and I know how this driver drives, so I was dreading this trip. Oh, and I can't forget the roads in Sicily as they don't add to my car well-being at all. Either way, my 'classmates' knew my condition and let me sit in front next to the driver which helped me to survive this trip without getting nauseous. That was cool as otherwise I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the archaeological park at all.
When we arrived I was surprised by the size of the park. I thought that Segesta last year was big, but this one was so much bigger. We only had about 2 hours before our dinner, so we needed to decide what we wanted to see as there was no chance to visit all sights. One person in the group has visited Selinunte before, so we followed her advice and The Temple of Hera and learn about Quarries of Cusa. We walked for so long, and I'm sure that we didn't even see one forth of the grounds. I don't need any more reasons to go back!
Let me show you around!
This is the first temple that we visited, and I'll tell you more about it, but first let me show the road leading to this magnificent construction....
It's quite a walk to get to the temple from the main building. We were lucky that it was partly clouded because it was 37 degrees Celsius. It was humid and the air was 'heavy' which was a sign that it might start raining anytime soon. We saw dark clouds coming in our direction, but we didn't mind as some rain would be a nice way of cooling down. That was until we saw the lightning. It was such a spectacle as there were so many of them, but we decided that we needed to hurry as there were not many places to hide.
On the way to The Eastern Hill (one of the areas with temples) we walked along many sculptures which were strange at first, but when you learn more about the exhibition it all makes sense. They are warning about the risk of extinction of many species and the need to question the relationship between humans and nature.
The message is clear of some of them while others require some thinking...
The ostrich symbolizes metaphor for humanity that often chooses to ignore climate changes...
We're almost there...
The Temple of Hera was built 2500 years ago. It took more than 75 years and it was built to compete with Greek temples. It's actually one of the largest temples in the Greek world. It might be that the temple was never finished because there are 60 large columns in the Cusa quarry that were certainly intended for this temple.
I wondered why there were no other groups as to me this is perfect spot for a day trip when I realized that the park would be closing soon, so we were one of the last groups for the day. I didn't mind as I could enjoy taking photos without avoiding people.
I hope that you're ready for some temple photo dump...
Those clouds were even darker in real. At this point I was sure that we would not leave the park dry...
We were a group of 8, but the area was so huge that at some points I had to look for the rest to make sure that they were all still there...
Today, we 'only' see the stones, but in the past these stones were painted in vibrant colours!
I could walk around for hours, but there were so many things to see and our group wanted to continue...
We walked towards the ruins of two other temples which were close by...
I was fascinated by the skies...
And those views were not too bad either. I wonder how this area looks like from the sea, so I might do a boat trip one day...
The clouds were moving fast and I caught myself more fascinated by them than by the ruins, no shame here!
There was a wedding photoshoot taking place when we left the temple. That's such a cool location and I bet that those photos were amazing...
We were able to walk around the ruins, but I didn't go too far as I was only wearing slippers and it seemed a bit dangerous. Those blocks and columns were gigantic!
It was not possible to cross the ruins from one side to another, so I waited for the rest of the group and we walked around together...
Imagine, these rock columns were transported manually from the quarry that is located 11 km northwest of Selinunta...
At this point it was raining already...
There is a museum with artifacts from the region in Selinunta and that's where we stayed during the rain. However, we didn't have much time because of our dinner plans, so we waited after the worst was over and then started walking back to the main entrance.
On the way we enjoyed this spectacle!
It was a full double-rainbow which must mean something, right?
We have such a great time in Selinunte, and I will make sure to visit it again for a full day as I only saw a small part of what it has to offer. Luckily, this time my husband wants to join me too, so we might stay for a few days longer and enjoy Sicily together.
Until next time...
