The Temples: Agrigento Part 1
After the sunset shoot at Selinunte we had to drive back to Trapani to our AirBnb. We got up on Sunday June 15 and headed to the Cathedral for Mass. Very nice and formal without being a high Mass. Hearing the Mass in Italian these three weeks sends us back to the good old days when it was in Latin. The cathedral also houses the shrine of The Madonna of Trapani, which we visited. This shrine is the home of a marble carving of Our Lady which is reputed to have been carved by Nino Pisano. It is actually a replacement of a much older statue, as veneration of Our Lady of Trapani began in the 3rd century.
We sat in her chapel for maybe thirty minutes and watched a steady stream of locals, lots of families with children, many of them bringing flowers, come in to ask a blessing.
Then on to Agrigento! This was the only one of the three temples sites we had visited in 2012 and it was a prime motive for our coming back. Having had a first look I also thought it would be the best place to get an image of the lunar eclipse.
The Valley of the Temples is sited on a high bluff a short distance from the sea. It is oriented east and west with the Temple of Hera on the east end, the temple of Concordia in the middle, and the temple of Hercules on the west end. There are remains of various other temples scattered around the site. As soon as we arrived we checked in to our AirBnb which was not only very nice but in the perfect location. It was literally a short walk to the west portal of the Valley of the Temples. Jeanne Marie hit another home run finding this place.
So let's get everyone introduced. First, is Hera. I believe most of what you see here has been standing all these centuries. Hera can be confusing because it looks so different from various angles.
This will be the location for the eclipse shot the next morning. I had scouted this spot with my various computer apps which will tell you exactly where the sun or moon will intersect a feature on the ground. Finding a spot on the map is easy. Whether you can actually get there and plant your tripod is a different problem. We did find this location easily accessible so we went on to find a place to get a sunset shot.
Above is the Temple of Concordia. It has been standing all these centuries and is the most complete Greek temple on the island, maybe anywhere. The inner sanctuary is still there. Only the roof is missing. Here's a better shot of the temple itself.
Next is the remnant of the Temple of Gemini (The Twins Pollux and Castor). It has become a kind of symbol for the whole valley.
Then there's Hercules. This temple had fallen into rubble and was reassembled. it was only 150 yards from our quarters.
While waiting to cross the street this lovely young lady signaled she wanted her picture taken so I grabbed this as the car pulled away. These Sicilian kids sure seem to enjoy life.
And then we had to chase the rising full moon.
This being our first day in the area we were still getting the lay of the land and trying to find not just access but an acceptable view. We grabbed the above from somebody's driveway. Below is Hercules again. Then we had to get to bed so we could get up at 3:30 for the lunar eclipse.
Next morning we took the high road across town and were given the nice little scene below. The picture does not do it justice. I can see why the ancients were brought to their knees to pray when greeted with a scene like this. And you can see that the eclipse was starting.
We got to the designated spot and then just had to watch the eclipse progress and wait for the moon to descend into the frame with the Temple of Hera. But as you can see in the image below, in which I overexposed the moon, the weather gods had a trick in mind. The clouds were already starting to obscure the moon.
We were still getting pretty good views of the moon until just before it reached the camera's field of view. The image below is actually two images stitched together in Photoshop. It is what we saw, but not in a single frame.
Then below is a few minutes later. This is a single frame but I had to tease out the moon with Photoshop. We couldn't actually see it with the naked eye at that point. The clouds might not have been the only factor. The moon was getting darker and the sky was getting lighter. The eastern sky at that point was rather bright.
So I didn't get the picture I wanted but as my shooting buddy Al says, "Don't cry over spilled pixels." Or as I say, "If at first you don't succeed, take a couple thousand more images. Even a blind squirrel eventually finds an acorn." We still had two sunrises, a sunset, a moonrise, and a moon set before we departed the area. Lots of pictures were waiting to be taken. Slide show of this first day below.
