Agrigento Festivo

It is supposed to be very hot today, close to 100 degrees, so we decide to put off the valley of the temples until tomorrow. That allows us to stroll the town of Agrigento, see some churches, and hibernate during the hot part of the day. But first, we must have our breakfast.
We go down to the breakfast room and are immediately greeted by Federica and introduced to her father, Alfonso. Our table is loaded down with pastries, a local sausage and olive warm bread item, cannolis, and arrancini. There is also fresh fruit, yoghurt, 4 different juices, and we get fresh made cappuccino. It is an amazing selection. The large croissants are filled with pistachio cream, the arrancini with meat sauce, and the pastries are assorted with various fillings. Alfonso comes over to say hello and see if everything is alright. Federica and him do not speak much English, so I have to listen carefully to their Italian and try and understand. I get the meaning of most of it and can even respond to some of it. I have to tell them of my Sicilian roots as that is always a great commonality to share. Federica also stops by to talk. We learn there is a festival tonight for the cathedral, and we must go, it is very nice. Sounds good to us. When we are done, there is still quite a bit of food left. They ask if we would like it for later, that some will be in the fridge, or in the room. They are really nice people.
After breakfast we head out to explore.

Agrigento Choir Room

We are right across from the cathedral and check out the choir room there. We will see the rest tonight.,then we wander down some very steep side streets to another old church which is closed and in dire need of external renovation. We are in the old part of the city and the buildings are ancient in some of the narrow streets. Back up and around we walk to look for another church. The Church of Santa Maria Dei Greci was built over a Ancient Greek temple. They have plexiglass in the floor in certain spots so you can look at the old foundation. It is a nice small church and the girl in it does her best to tell us about it in English. We thank her and tell her that her English is good, which she doesn’t quite believe.
From here, we wander some more to the Purgatory Church and visit it. It also is nice but small. Then we do on to the Monastery of Spirito Santo and its church. There is an Italian family in front of us going there also and when we get there, the church is closed. They ring a buzzer and talk to someone and then a nun opens a door and talks with them in Italian. They tell us the church is closed but she will let us in to look. However, we cannot walk around as they have just washed the floors. The nun opens the door, we walk in and have a quick look. Then we are on our way again.
Since we are almost down to the bottom of the hill, we walk to the bus station to check out the bus from here to Trapani. I find the stop clearly marked and a ticket booth where the guy says they sell tickets for the bus. No mystery this time. We then head down a new street to check out a possible restaurant for tomorrow. The street is shade lined which helps with the heat. However, school has just let out and the walk is filled with kids walking, sitting, eating, and generally being kids. We overshoot the restaurant and see it on the way back. They are not open tomorrow and since we are going to the Festivo tonight, we won’t be able to eat here. Nearby, there is a gelato place that was rated good, so it seems like a good idea in the heat to have something cold. After our gelato, we start a slow walk back to the coolness of our air conditioned hideaway.

Breakfast Leftovers for Lunch

Time to write, sit, have some wine and leftover breakfast. Then a short nap before getting ready to go out again.
First we cross the street and go into the cathedral. It is really amazing the amount of restoration that they have done and have yet to do. It is very beautiful. From what we understand, some towns people and government officials wanted to tear it down. It had gone into some disrepair and was deemed not to be totally safe. But many of the towns people fought to save it and then the cardinal of the area got on board and now it is slowly being brought back to its former glory. There is a replica of the Shroud of Turin that I believe was kept near where the original was and is considered holy. From the cathedral we walk into the square where it seems the band is tuning up for the show. We get a porchetta ( pork) and cheese panino,and a large beer for 3.5E. We sit on the only steps around surrounded by Italians and their families. The band plays a warm up red hot chili peppers song ( Californication) and do it in English. Then they all leave the stage and disappear. We thought the show was about to start but we were wrong. We sit for another hour and just enjoy the people watching. Then a band comes on but not the one that warmed up.

Italian Band and Fun

They play Italian songs, accordion, guitar,and singer along with some audience participation both on and off the stage. Then a guy comes on who we thought was a famous singer since everyone was asking for photos with him. It turns out he was a Sicilian comedian. I try my best to understand what he is saying and do get quite a bit. At one point, he is asking what Sicilian cities people are from and making fun of them. Then he asks any other region so I yell out Colorado. He is not quite getting it as I say it twice, then yell americano and the crowd joins in to say Colorado and americano. It was all very funny as we were the only non Italians in the crowd. After a bit, we leave and grab a Salsicce sandwich on the way out. Why does everything taste better here? Oh yea, only fresh ingredients! Back at the BNB we see Alfonso waiting for people who we find out tomorrow, never showed up. We chat with him for a bit and get ready to go inside. He tells us the band in the alley should stop playing at midnight, which is about 15 minutes. We go up and get in bed and the band keeps playing. All American rock and roll from modern to old 70s music. We put our earplugs in and eventually fall asleep. It has been a long day.
Expenses
Gelato at Le Cuspidi 3.3E
Porchetta Panino and Beer 4.5E
Sausage and Onion Sandwich 2.5E
BNB Liola 76E
Walked 4.5 Miles