May 24, 2022

We said goodbye to Modica and drove to the Villa Romana del Casale, a UNESCO site that is a ruin of a luxurious Roman estate that is basically in the middle of Sicily. It’s particularly known for its mosaics which are considered to be one of the best in the world. And the ruins are truly fabulous. The owner was a trader of exotic animals so the theme of a lot of mosaics was the animals such as lions, tigers, giraffes, etc. One of our favorite mosaics was of the exercise room that showed women working out with weights. And they looked pretty fit too! A lot of the villa itself still stands too so you can really get a sense of how the very wealthy lived in Roman times. It was absolutely worth the detour as well as the marginal lunch at a restaurant that mostly catered to bus tours (still better than the cafeteria at the site).

We then drove on to Agrigento, but the direct route suggested by Google had a road that got smaller and smaller and went through fields and while picturesque seemed like it might become in even worse condition (it was hard packed dirt) and maybe even peter out entirely. So we had to double back and find the bigger road which bugged the heck out of me but was probably the right call. We got to Agrigento and found the B&B Templi e Arte that was down a tiny street.  The room was a bit basic–the girls were in a metal bunk bed and the room was pretty small, but the hosts were very friendly and gracious. We drove to the waterfront and walked around there and while being near water is always nice, and the weather was good, the area was a bit rundown. We managed to find a restaurant we could all agree upon and had a decent dinner and then returned to the B&B.

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