Zach and Cathy's Adventures: Sicily April 2026 Part 2

DAY 6, Sunday - The road from Catania to Marsala with Valley of Temples

We saw this elephant as we departed Cantania.

In Agrigento we visited the impressive Valley of the Temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This splendid archaeological park is the largest in the world with the best-preserved temple ruins outside of mainland Greece. The sea was much closer back in those days.

The 1st temple we visited was Temple of Hera.

This is an Agave tree. The park has trees from all over the world.

Tombs were carved in the walls. They were Christian burials sites.

The walls were carved out of the sandstone.

The Temple of Concordia was turned into a Catholic Church called Saints Peter and Paul and was later restored as a Greek Temple, the second most complete one after the one on the Acropolis in Athens.

Thousands of years old olive trees.

This statue in front of the Temple of Concordia was built in 1959!

Capra Girgentana goals are only found in Sicily.

A necropolis.

The last temple we went to was the Temple of Ercole (Hercules). His father was Zeus and his mother human.

Then we went to lunch. It was wonderful, the best meal we had in Sicily and a great view.

Olive, grapes and strawberries for miles and miles.

Our hotel, the Hotel Carmine, was a convent built in the 1700 century and converted into a hotel, no two rooms are the same!

In Marsala we had time for a short walk and our 1st sunset in Sicily, since we were now on the west coast.

We passed by this tree on the way back to the hotel after sunset.

DAY 7, Monday - Marsala Walking Tour and Motya Tour

Begin the day with an orientation walking tour of Marsala, an ancient walled city built on the ruins of two Punic cities, Lilybaeum and Mozia. Conquered by the Romans, then annexed by the Byzantine Empire, Marsala became wealthy primarily through trade and is famous for its productions of Marsala wine since the 1800s. For the record, we do not like Marsala wine, too sweet.

To start the day we walked to the archaeological museum. The 1st thing we saw was a Roman copy of the Greek statue of Venus (Greek), Aphrodite (Romans).

They were using catapults in those days.

These are baby bottles!

This is the remains of a Carthaginian ship.

The ram from that ship.

A 3rd century merchant ship.

The 11 May Garabaldi gate where he started the takeover over of Italy.

Another fish market.

The cathedral (closed) and City Hall.

After lunch we went through the salt pans and Stagnone Lagoon to Motya. The windmills in the salt pans were built in the 1600's. The salt pans are massive and stretch for miles.

There was a lot of kite surfing on this beach.

This is a 20-mile-long underwater road and used by Greeks and Romans. It's about 18 inches under the water and people can mountain bike on it. It must be during low tide.

Salt mounds.

Motya Island is privately owned by the Whitaker Foundation. He did most of the archaeological work on the island. It was originally inhabited by the Phoenicians.

This inlet and wall were a sacred area.

What's left of the Temple of Astarde (Greek Venus, Romans Aphordite).

The Whitacker Museum has an amazing collection of items only from this island. The Greek statue of Youth of Motya is among the 21 antiquities in Italy that are so important that they aren't allowed to be moved. Some think he was a Charioteer.

These are relics from the Tophet.

Death mask.

Whitaker Castle from the Embarcadero and part of the remaining original walls.

Back to the salt pans.

These terracotta tiles are put on top of the salt mounds while they are drying.

The Italians have small cars. This one is the smallest one we have seen.

Our Tour Manager, Antonella, at a wine tasting.

DAY 8, Tuesday - Erice Tour

We rode the really winding roads to the mountaintop of Erice, a wonderfully preserved medieval town with breathtaking views and a rich historical presence. We walked along the cobbled streets lining the entire town.

There we many examples of Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance architecture throughout the town.

This is also called the town of 100 churches, all catholic. Here are some of them.

The castle looked much better from the outside than inside.

There were many great picture opportunities since we were at 3000 ft with no other mountains around.

Inside had many nice flowers though.

The well of Venus.

There were great views of the Temple of Venus. We didn't walk down to it.

There was a special exhibit in town called Lobsteropolis in Erica by Philip Colbert!

Assumption Cathedral, also called Royal Cathedral or Real Duomo, originally built in 1314, was our last stop of the day. It has undergone some renovations over the years.

A nice sunset on the drive back to Marsala.

DAY 9- On Our Own

Today we slept in and ate a leisurely breakfast! Then we went for a walk down to the cathedral to see if it was open. It was. St Thomas of Canterbury is the largest church we've been in on the Sicily trip. It had 16 side chapels, so it is possible to have 17 masses going on at the same time.

Then we went for a walk down by the water. Bust of Garabaldi; they need to trim the bushes so people can see the name.

Today Netflix was filming a movie right outside our hotel. We watched from the street and our balcony above for a while. It was kind of boring. A lot of quiet and cut. Mostly, a lot of people standing around. Funny, it was a film about France being filmed in Sicily.