Sicily 5: Erice & Selinunte [Sky Watch Friday]

After leaving Segesta, we took a short ‘hop’ to the mountaintop town of Erice, where there was an awesome view down to the Gulf of Bonagia. I remember it was quite cloudy, chilly and windy. As fellow tour members were boarding the bus for the return to our hotel, I was determined to wait for  an opening in the fast moving clouds for a shot. I stood my ground and got lucky.

The next day's outing was to the ancient port of Selinunte, which is arguably Sicily’s top archeological site. Founded in the 7th century BC, it became a powerful city with flourishing trade, and, hence, a rival of Segesta. Excavations have unearthed 8 temples in varying degrees of ruin. Temple E (partially rebuilt in the 1960s) is considered one of the finest examples of Doric architecture. Note that here the columns are fluted; i.e. instead of being completely rounded, they have vertical, curved channels

Just before we arrived in Selinunte, we made a stop at a convenience store, where the proprietor (Nick) proudly displayed a to scale model he had made of Temple E.

As we made our way to the next temple, we encountered great stone segments that went into building columns. Here you can see the fluted edges even more clearly .

Temple C, dedicated to Apollo, was the largest and oldest temple on the Acropolis.