Agrigento & Turkish steps tour duration: 8/9 hours.
Will pick you up from your place and drive to Agrigento first,
to discover the outstanding Valley of the temples.
The archeological research so far reveals that the city exploited the favoureble conditions of the land and probably developed regularly from the very beginning,
with a network of streets that met at right angles.
The plan as we know it today dates back to the Ellenistic period and was kept during Roman times.
It features east-west main streets and more densely arranged minor ones running north-south.
The resulting blocks were elongated rectangles and were divided in two by a narrow interspace.
A residential district has been excavated in this area, revealing houses with a Greek-Hellenistic plan.
The hill of temples that forms the southern boundary of the urban area constitutes the city’s sacred district
and is characterised by a series of temples in a breathtaking positon that were built from local limestone between the sixth and fifth centuries BC.
After probably three hours spent here,
we will drive you to a local sea front restaurant for a delicious meal and then a short drive to reach the beautiful
Turkish Staircase where you can spend the rest of your day.
The Turkish steps.
The “Scala dei Turchi” is a splendid, blinding, white jewel that frames the clear blue sea.
One cannot describe the view and communicate it all: you have to live immersed with all your five senses in the magic of this incredible cliff of white marl.
It’s a fascinating place, where centuries of rain and wind have carved a natural staircase and whose white color is made more dazzling by the sunlight.
The Turkish steps is not only a natural feature, but is also a part of local legends:
it is said that the Saracen pirates (for the Sicilians, the “Turks”,
which is a negative connotation that indicates all the people that were once devoted to piracy),
docked ships in the calm, clean waters, protected by the “Scala”,
and climbed these natural “steps” to reach the top of the cliff and raid local villages, including the village of Realmonte.