Travel does the heart good
Senlis is a city in the northern French department of Oise, Hautes de France. Cute, medieval and charming. It offered us great peek into history: The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived in Senlis, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest. Senlis is situated on the river Nonette. Senlis was known in early Roman imperial times as Augustomagus. During the 3rd century, a seven-meter […]
The Château de Chantilly is one of the finest jewels in the crown of Franceâs cultural heritage. It is the work of a man with an extraordinary destiny: Henri dâOrlĂŠans, Duke of Aumale, son of the last King of France, Louis-Philippe. This historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres north of Paris. The site […]
The Scala dei Turchi is a rocky cliff on the coast of Realmonte, near Porto Empedocle. It has become a tourist attraction, partly due to its mention series of detective stories about Commissario Montalbano. The cliffs lie between two sandy beaches and are a limestone rock formation in the shape of a staircase, hence the name. The latter part […]
Enna or as the Sicilians would say Castrugiuvanni; is a city located roughly at the center of Sicily, towering above the surrounding countryside. It has earned the nicknames belvedere (panoramic viewpoint) and ombelico (“navel”) of Sicily. At 931m above sea level, Enna is the highest Italian provincial capital. To arrive there is not a piece of cake. Passing the two viaducts Morello and […]
From its dramatic natural surroundings to its historic churches, Sicily has something to offer every traveler. The island of Sicily is a unique part of Italy. Its craggy mountains, wild vegetation, and omnipresent sea have fired the imagination of poets, wayfarers, and visitors alike. Though it is one of 20 Italian regions, its history under […]
Aci Castello and the other Acis around are destinations not to be missed in Sicily, especially for lovers of Greek myths and literature. It is here that the poets Virgil and Ovid gave birth to the myth of Galatea and Aci and their love story. In the second half of 1100 the town was destroyed […]
This is city is one of my favourite places in Sicily. Let me show you its magic! Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on the Ionian sea, including that of Isola Bella, are accessible via an aerial tramway built in 1992, and via highways from Messina in the north and Catania in the south. In 2017 Taormina […]
One of my favourite activities living in Sicily is to go to the beach. Or how they call it here the lido. South of Catania, there is entire spread of different lido’s which are under different concessions. Do not expect a beautiful road to drive through, though. The road is full of bumps, holes, trash […]
 is one of Sicily’s prettiest seaside villages: Marzamemi. It consists of couple of shops and bars, with one main square on which are all the restaurants located. In the evening this place turns into a fairy tale. It was the Arabs of the 10th century who put Marzamemi on the map. They not only gave the village […]
 According to legend, Daedalus stayed in the city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task – Capture the Cretan Bull. đ In 9th century it was conquered by the Muslims, who elevated the city to become a capital of one of the three districts of the island (the Val di Noto). In 11th century, it became […]
The city’s name has its origins in the neighboring town of Lentini. In 16th century, Vice-King Giovanni De Vega founded a new city in honour of Habsburg Emperor Karlo V, naming it in Latin Carleontini, or Leontini of Carlo. In Italian, it became Carlentini, and in the various Sicilian dialects, Carrintini or Carruntini. They say in Sicily, you can recognise the flavour of […]
This city is placed in such a remote place that even dear Lord decide to say buona notte a tutti. Driving there, through various hills beautiful landscapes but scary landscapes… roads that are incomplete, the GPS that get lost, the moment of: Please let’s try not to make a wrong turn because we are not […]
Picture this episode: we parked on a roundabout. Some local approached us (my brother and me) – we thought because we should have not park in a roundabout, but then again they all did, so… in fact the guy just wanted to ask if we have cigarettes. Ok Sicily, episode n. At the roundabout is […]
Picture this episode: we parked on a roundabout. Some local approached us (my brother and me) – we thought because we should have not park in a roundabout, but then again they all did, so… in fact the guy just wanted to ask if we have cigarettes. Ok Sicily, episode n.
At the roundabout is a Monumento a Don Bosco with a beautiful view on the mountains: Monte Guastanella and Monte Suso.
Don Bosco was an Italian Catholic priest, educator, and writer of the 19th century. He dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known as the Salesian Preventive System.
Exploring the medieval city we noticed how the facades are falling apart as they were made of sand that is blown away by the wind and the ravage of time.
Out of a sudden, some big terrible noise came to us: a grandpa on some old motorbike, decorated like a proper bike (living a life!) asking for directions, more specifically for a museum. We were confused just by the noise, then we had to deal with the appearance and finally became even more perplexed by his question because museums in Agrigento are everywhere. I mean which exactly museum are you looking for, resurrected CheGuevarra?
As I see a bit of my grandfather in every elder, I dedicated this post to this grandpa. May your roads be safe and your destinations just around the corner. Long live you and your Motto Guzzi! đ
So breakfast in some most odd but so typical sicilian pasticceria. I will not explain much, I believe it is enough to look at the photos and conclude. I mean, the guy baking the bread, the atmosphere, the decorations… đ But the pastries were so delicious. Italians, if they really know something, they know how to dough.
Agrigento Cathedral or Duomo di Agrigento, Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Gerlando) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Agrigento, Sicily, dedicated to Saint Gerland. Founded in the 11th century, the story actually starts much earlier. In the roman times, there were catacombs and tombs attested to the presence of a solid community of Christians and cults in the city between the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Byzantine period: the church of Santa Maria dei Greci was built on the ruins of the Temple of Athena and Zeus.
We climbed the towers and explored around. I took a photo of the Mediterranean sea. I tried to find the greek temples but no success.
Agrigento was one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia during the golden age of Ancient Greece with population estimates in the range of 200,000 to 800,000 before 406 BC. Quite big, isn’t it? That time it was known as Akragas.
Akragas was founded on a plateau overlooking the sea, with two nearby rivers, the Hypsas and the Acragas, after which the settlement was originally named. Although, there were already some pre-historic settlements.
Around 570 BC, the city came under the control of Phalaris, a semi-legendary figure, who was remembered as the archetypal tyrant, said to have killed his enemies by burning them alive inside a bronze bull. In the ancient literary sources, he is linked with the military campaigns of territorial expansion, but this is probably anachronistic.
In Roman times, the city was disputed between the Romans and the Carthaginians during the First Punic War. The Romans laid siege to the city in 262 BC and captured it after defeating a Carthaginian relief force in 261 BC and sold the population into slavery.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city successively passed into the hands of the Vandalic Kingdom, the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy and then the Byzantine Empire. During this period the inhabitants of Agrigentum largely abandoned the lower parts of the city and moved to the former acropolis, at the top of the hill. The reasons for this move are unclear but were probably related to the destructive coastal raids of the Saracens and other peoples around this time.
The city is nowadays called the Valley of the Temples.
Empedocles (5th Century BC), the Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, was a citizen of ancient Akragas.
Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936), dramatist and Nobel prize winner for literature, was born in Agrigento too. đ
RED RIDING HOOD 