Monreale, Segesta and Selinunte

Monreale is later than the Palatine Chapel, but a similar Norman-Arab style with Byzantine mosaics, although probably the mosaic artists were Sicilian, presumably trained by artists from Byzantium. 

We were a bit discouraged by the number of tour buses in the car park, but it turned out that there was a special service for women from all over Sicily, and so the tour buses had had to arrive early before the church service started. We got a whole hour to study the church, so although we had to share the church with the bus tours, we were lucky that we had arrived early. The mosaics are wonderful. We particularly liked the story of the conversion of Paul, with the scene on the road to Damascus and then Paul being baptised by Ananais, because the details were lovely and, I think, since we actually went to the house of Ananias in Damascus, and it seemed quite personal.

The bronze doors, designed by the architect
Who designed the leaning tower of
Pisa. Not sure that's a recommendation.

 

Christ Pantocrator in the apse

We went up the roof terraces, where the views down into the cloisters and across the Conca dÓro (the horn of plenty) to Palermo and the sea were terrific, even though the Conca dÓro, the wonderfully fertile land that helped to make Palermo rich, is almost entirely covered in buildings. The cloisters are fascinating- we spent ages looking at the carved capitals, which were wonderfully lively and varied. We circumnavigated the exterior of the church, which has elaborate Arab style decorations on the Gothic style building.

Arab decorations

The cloisters

Cloister capital 

Then we drove to Segesta. Driving through towns is fraught because double and triple parking is common, even though the streets aren't that wide to start with. But on the whole the driving is less aggressive than in northern Italy and some people pootle along so slowly that even we, strangers and happy to have longer to check directions, get frustrated. One does get fed up of protecting idiots on scooters or motorbikes from their own stupidity.

Segesta has a very complete temple peristyle; it may never have been completed because there is no evidence of a cella  (the inside room or rooms). Or it may have been dedicated to some unusual cult, but the dates seem too early. At the top of the hill is the main part of the town with an evocative theatre. It's Greek style, without the back wall favoured by the Romans and so behind the stage is a wonderful view over the mountains and to  the sea.

 

The temple, Segesta

We stayed the night at an Agriturismo place ; I can't really describe it as a B&B because it was pretty posh. It did weddings and such. But it was a lovely room and surrounded by olive trees which produce prize winning olive oil. I do like the effect of a pomegranate tree with its small scarlet flowers against the silvery green olives. It had a really smashing swimming pool and I had a brilliant swim both morning and evening. The morning one was bliss, loud with birdsong.

There was a set menu in the evening which was wonderful, a terrific parade of Sicilian delicacies.  The breakfast was really excellent with superb cooked meats and cheeses, the only let down being the bread, which made me think of Terry Pratchett's dwarf bread. The next day Phil bought me a Sicilian cook book which I think may be a very broad hint, but actually I do want to find out how to do the sweet and sour vegetables and the stuffed aubergines and the twice cooked pasta. Maybe not the ricotta sweet pastries, though - I'm beginning to find them cloying. Phil is really enjoying them - he had a doughnut stuffed with sweet ricotta for breakfast. You need an extremely good appetite to eat that.

We chose the agriturismo place as it was close to Selinunte. Selinunte was a large Greek city which called in the Phoenicians to help them with their struggle for dominance with Segesta.  Bad move - it was sacked by Hannibal.

There is one enormous temple which was never completed thanks to the Carthaginians, and in the nearby quarry you can see columns which were being cut ready for the building. An earthquake brought the temples down and one is huge. The Sicilian Greeks seemed to value size, maybe over artistry. 

Another temple, to Hera, dating from the fifth century BC, was re-erected in 1957 and is still being worked on

The temple of Hera, Selinunte

The fortifications were enormous but mostly built after the sacking. Whole areas of the old town had been abandoned and the stone used to improve the walls. There were columns from a temple which had been sawn in half lengthways to strengthen the walls, which had tunnels through and along them, and these ended in a series of disguised sally ports eight in a line, so that a large number of soldiers could emerge more or less simultaneously, rather than one at a time, when they could be much more easily overwhelmed.  The two main streets have been excavated and one can see wheel tracks.

There weren't that many other tourists. Its a large site, so we drove from one bit to the other.  Touts were trying to sell rides in golf buggies but that wasn't at all necessary. It would perhaps have been useful to get a ride to the farthest sanctuary, for Demeter, which was about 25 minutes walk each way without much shade. But about half way there was the remains of a Byzantine church with a baptism pool. So that was interesting, and then we crossed the river, which is more of a powerful stream, with thickets of bamboo and oleander and ferns, and loud birdsong, and dragonflies, some of which were scarlet. That was lovely. Then there was no one else at all at the sanctuary, and we much prefer being alone and working out what was what. There were some signs which helped us, and it was all very atmospheric.  Apparently Demeter and her daughter Persephone inspired a great deal of devotion in Sicily.

 

The gateway into the Temenos at the sanctuary.

After the walk back we drove to Lido Marinella and had an excellent buffet lunch. Then, much restored, we drove to Agrigento.