Bicycle touring in Sicily island Italy, Agrigento!
In this post we would share the 2nd day of the self cycling holiday enjoyed by Enzo, our canadian customer who used out quality bike rental and shared with us his travel book notes.
I slept well after a long, hot ride down from Corleone on Day 2, and an amazing dinner served up by Rosario. I woke up well-rested on my third touring day, and decided to spend it in Agrigento to tour the local sites.
My brief riding summary for the day was:
Distance: 9 km
Elevation Gain: 193 metres
Elevation Loss: 193 metres
I checked with Patrizia, and she had a room available for another night at B&B Dei Templi by Patrizia (http://www.bbdeitempli.it/). She also gave me a key to the garage, so I could get my bike in and out of there as I pleased throughout the day.
The day started with an espresso and fresh pastry at a local bar across the street. Some of the B&B’s I stayed in would offer this for the breakfast option, and it gave me a chance to meet and chat with some of the locals. Next stop was a street vendor to pick up a bag of fresh fruit for a Euro. This would end up being a daily tradition before I started riding for the day.
Today’s ride was quite minimal, not even hitting double-digit kilometres! It was made even more relaxing by leaving the saddle bags behind at the B&B. My destination was the Valle dei Templi (http://www.parcovalledeitempli.it/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_dei_Templi ), just a few km south of town. This is one of the great attractions in Sicilia that takes you away to a different time and place. In this case, it was ancient Greece in the 5th and 6th centuries BC – over 2,500 years ago! The Greeks left behind some beautiful temples, in various states of preservation in an area they referred to as Akragas (now called Agrigento).
After spending a few hours wandering through ancient Greece, it was a short ride (uphill) back to modern Siicilia. I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through this bustling town of about 60,000 people, and enjoying my afternoon coffee at the same bar in which I started my day. I also got myself organized for the next day, and booked a B&B in Piazza Armerina – just over 100 km away.
For dinner, I could not think of any better choice that a return visit to Pizzeria Gastronomia Manzoni (http://www.paginegialle.it/pizzeriamanzoni ). Tonight I just had to try one of the mouth-watering pizzas I had seen Rosario Salerno prepare the night before. I was not disappointed, and Rosario made sure I was well-taken care of with appetizers, salad and vino to accompany one of his speciality pizzas.
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