October 19 Termini Imerese

 Today we drove to another town near Palermo - Termini Imerese.  This city was established after the Greek Colony of Himara was destroyed.  There were several things of interest to me.  Termini Imerese and it's Duomo Saint Nicholas, the ruins of the ancient city of Himera, the Cornelius Roma Aqueduct and the San Leonardo Bridge.

We made it to Termini Imerese with no problem, we had passed the exit several times all ready.  We had put a parking area into our GPS - but found it was small and completely full when we got there.  We were able to stop and enter the location for the Duomo in the GPS.  And guess what - there were still parking places there!!!  And we didn't go down any one way tiny streets!  Though there were opportunities to do that!  The area in front of our parking space is a large walking space with almost 180 degree views of the waterfront way below us.  

The wharf above looks pretty large and has a lot of cranes.  But we did not see any cargo ships.  The marina is off to the right.

The view behind our parking spot.

Statue near the Cathedral.

Duomo of Saint Nicholas.

Cathedral piazza being invaded by teenagers looking for lunch!

The start of the steps down to the lower town.

It being Wednesday it seems a lot of sights are closed.  We both thought the other had looked up opening times for the cathedral.   This is a view from the gated area in front of the duomo down to the sea.

We took many photos of the outside of the Duomo, but never made it inside.

Street scenes around the Duomo.

And back up to the Duomo.  We are actually trying to find a restaurant for lunch.  The restaurant down this street was closed for the season.  We did find a restaurant that was open as we walked back to our parking space.  I had penne bolognaise and it was very salty.  So of-course I forgot my water bottle at the restaurant.  This is the water bottle I have carried around since I got it on the plane on Sept 3!

Back at the parking area - I remembered that you were supposed to be able to see Cefalu on the right.  With my eyes I could see "the Rock" that marks Cefalu.  But the picture does not show it at all.

Then walking around the viewpoint on the left you can see Palermo.  It appears to be closer and in view.

And then there was this weird area with these structures.  I have no idea what they were used for in the past.  Now you can't get anywhere near them.  

Back to the viewpoint area I saw this sculpture.  Then we went back to the car and wanted to navigate towards the San Leonardo bridge.  We tried to program our GPS - but it kept saying that the bridge was near Catania - which is on the other side of the island!  Michael finally found an address so we headed there - nothing.  So we put in the directions to the Himera. 

We did find a road that was marked as the way to Himira.  But as we headed up the narrow lane - that was two-way.  There were some buildings on the right - but no signs saying "Himera" or "you are here".  So we kept going.  Until I said - I think this is a regular road and we should have parked by those buildings.  So we turned around right here.  Not near as challenging as the city streets 2 days ago!  But still scary as there was a steep drop off on the right.

I did take a photo of the country side.  Back down the hill we parked at those buildings.  Everything looked closed.  So I walked up to the gate - and it was open!  So we went back to our car and got our backpacks and cameras.  But just then a young women came down the pathway.  In a mix of English/Italian she indicated we needed to go back down to the bottom road to the museum and purchase a ticket.  So we got back into the car and drove down the tiny road and to where we thought she had pointed.  But there was only a parking lot and a restaurant.  

No one in the restaurant was interested in speaking to or helping these misguided American tourists.  So we drove into the parking lot and then up to a larger parking lot following a sign that pointed to Hirmera.  But there was nothing there.  Just a parking lot and an exit onto the main road.  But there was a paved path leading up to a building - but no signs.  Michael was pretty much done.  

We decided to drive back up to the buildings where we had originally parked. Michael would walk down a path that would perhaps end at the museum where we could buy the tickets.  He did not find anything.  But then we looked down!  

And this is what we saw.  Across the road from the restaurant and the parking lot were these ruins!  They were not noticeable from the road that ran in front of it.  This is an ongoing archeology site with many ruin locations in the area.  The building that we were parked next too was part of it

This has to be one of the most unmarked site ever!