Selinute

I’m running about a day behind on posts, and the internet at my new stay hasn’t been great. I stopped by Selinute on my way to Agrigento yesterday amid the threat of thundershowers and knowing I had at least another 90 minute drive to my farm stay. I had my first experience trying to get gas, which is a little different than the US. There is one pay terminal for each island of pumps or even for the whole lot, you can pay by cash or card but if you pay by cash you will not get change if you can’t fill that amount.  Turns out the pay station terminal wasn’t working properly with my card and the attendant had to help.   He asked where I was from, guessing New York first, I told him I had lived in Boston which he liked and then said I was now in California to which he laughed and started air dribbling a basketball and said “Miami Heat #1!”  I guess he is not a LeBron fan.  

Honestly between their gas pumps and ridiculous highway interchanges, I don’t know why Italians make it so complicated on themselves. I’ve been wanting to get a picture of one of these interchanges I’m talking about, but I don’t want to get t-boned either. Take my word for it- absurd.

Back to Selinute- These are the guys who beat my buddies over at Segesta. The park is more manicured and touristy than Segesta, and the temples are bigger and more impressive. Maybe that’s why they won. The one thing I really liked here was that visitors are actually allowed to walk through some of the temples and get very close to and touch others. They were doing some work on the pathways, and seem to be improving the park.

I’m writing this after having seen Agrigento, which gets a lot more attention in the tour guides. I’ll upload some photos of Agrigento also. It is hard to pick a favorite between Segesta, Selinute, and Agrigento- they all have magnificent structures of enormous size. That said, if I could only go to one, I would pick Selinute, for it’s spectacular location by the sea and the ability to get up close and personal with the structures. Second would be Segesta and third Agrigento which of the three I found to be a little too touristy.