17 March 2024 – San Leone

Miles driven today = 80

Total Miles to date = 2,462

I promised last night that today’s update would be more interesting, but, if I’m being totally honest, it probably isn’t.

The Rough Guide had no notable points of interest along the stretch of coast between Marsala and Agrigento, and so, with the exception of a short Lidl stop near Castelvetrano, we did the whole journey all in one hit.  The SS115 doesn’t exactly hug the coastline but it does run parallel to it for the greatest part and with a surprisingly smooth surface we were able to cruise at 80kph for the majority of the journey.  The scenery gradually changed from flat to hilly and from scruffy market gardening to well tended acreages of olive groves, vineyards and orchards.

We arrived at the car park for the Valley of the Temples, which sits below Agrigento, a little before midday.  Being a Sunday, I expected it to be busier than usual but it was absolutely heaving. A parking attendant tried to squeeze us into a space which was never going to accommodate us so we very quickly came to a decision to bail out and come back tomorrow when things should have quietened down a bit.

So we dropped a couple of miles downhill to the coastal town of San Leone and to the Valley of the  Temples campsite.  Before we left Lilybeo Village near Marsala this morning the lady on reception gave us some information and a discount card for “Sicily Camping Tour”.  So when we arrived here I showed both this and my ACSI card and it turns out that it’s a €23 ACSI site but it’s only €21 with Sicily Camping Tour.  Every penny counts and we might save ourselves a few more euros with it before we leave the island.

It's only 15 minutes’ walk from the campsite to the harbour so we had a spot of lunch before heading in that direction.

There were certainly lots of people about.  We found out later that there was some sort of festival going on.  The car parks were packed and there were quite a lot of motorhomes along the quayside.  This one appeared to have some sort of Saintly apparition on its roof.

We had a look at the small stretch of beach.  The thermometer topped 20 degrees today and a few people had stripped off to top up their tans but most of the locals are still sticking with their winter woollies for now.  

We strolled along the seafront for a while.  The restaurants which were open seemed to be doing a steady trade, but, apart from a few African gentlemen selling cheap copy designer bags, hats and sunglasses, there wasn’t really an awful lot to draw our attention.

The campsite here was reasonably well occupied when we arrived earlier, almost entirely with Italian motorhomes, many of whom have now gone home at the end of their weekend breaks.   We’ll give the Temples another go in the morning and then decide whether we hang around here for another night or move further on down the coast in the afternoon.

18 March 2024 - Valley of the Temples