Ancient Times

Today we headed to Palermo via the ancient towns of Piazza Armenia and Agrigento. On the outskirts of Piazza Armenia we walked around the stunning 3rd century AD Villa Romana, a sumptuous hunting lodge belonging to the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and admired the magnificent floor mosaics. These brilliantly coloured mosaics cover a floor area of 3,500 sq, metres and depict hunting scenes showing  chariots, African lions and cheetahs along with the rather voluptuous Queen of Sheba. The mosaic which gets the most attention is called the "Room of the Ten Girls in Bikinis", which show ten sporty girls in modern looking bikinis engaged in games such as throwing a discus, using weights and playing a ball game. We continued on to Agrigento and the splendid 6th century BC Valley of the Temples, showing a series of Doric temples, which although in varying stages of decay, give us a glimpse of this former magnificent Grarcian city. At the Archaeological Museum we admired a huge collection of wonderful ceramic artefacts recovered from the site, including thr "Telamone", a colossal reconstructed statue of a giant. We then continued north to Palermo.