A chill weekend in Sicily

This weekend we decided to stay around Palermo.  Saturday we took a 2 hour train ride to Agrigento (southern Sicily), which is famous for its Valley of the Temples.  The city is built on a plateau and was one of the most richest and major cities of ancient Greece.  The Carthaginians eventually sacked the city, and fought with Rome over ownership.  I thought it was really neat that there are still remnants of Greek influences here in Sicily.  So once we got off the train in Agrigento, we realized we weren't really sure how to get to the Valley.  I actually have to say that I'm really proud of myself b/c I managed to ask for directions on how to get there (we were supposed to take a bus) AND I managed to get us 2 way bus tickets all in Italian!  Maybe we're not such "dumb Americans" after all. 

ANYWAY, The Valle dei Templi spans a lot of land, and there are so many remnants of various Greek temples.  They were all built in the Doric style, and there were a few that were insanely well preserved.  The main temples were Temple of Hera/Juno, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Hercules, Temple of Concordia, and the Temple of Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux).  The Temple of Concordia was the best preserved one, due to it being turned into a Christian church at one time.  Each temple also had its own designated olive tree, since olive trees were very important to the Greeks.  Along the walls there were also these kind of pits built into the walls, and archaeologists think they were tombs that the Romans built, but the weird thing is that they've never been able to find any bones or any sort of body remnants.  Archaeologists also were able to put together a telamon (a sort of sculpture that acted as a sort of pillar for support in a temple), and it's currently in the Archaeological Museum of Agrigento (picture below). It's really huge!  Before grabbing the train back to Palermo, we found a place to eat that was off the main road. The big disadvantage of Agrigento is how the streets are built. Everything is uphill, and the side streets are very narrow and uphill.  I decided to forgo the typical pasta dish and try some beef...I don't advise trying beef in Sicily.  My jaw was so tired of chewing after a while!

 Temple of Concordia

 Temple of Juno/Hera

Temple of Hercules

Telamon

Originally, we were going to go to Cefalu on Sunday (today), but the weather turned out to be less than ideal so we stuck around our hotel.  Turned out to still be a fun Sunday though, because on Sunday mornings they close down part of the main street in Palermo (Via Roma) and there are little market stands set up along the street with meats, cheeses, olives, spreads, jewelry, and pastries.  Everyone shouts "prego" at you, and wants you to try everything.  

So two weeks left of this rotation.  I guess I should mention my actual rotation, since that's why I'm here in the first place.  We actually don't get to do a whole lot at rotation, since pharmacists here don't get to go on rounds anymore due to the way the scheduling works.  I was told that they used to be able to do rounds every day.  Most days we just work on a project at the computer, so it gets a little monotonous.  We have gotten to see some neat things though, such as lung and liver surgeries, how pain management works here, how infectious diseases is controlled, and have gotten to go on a few rounds with the physicians.  The people at the hospital are very nice, and I was also told that there used to be American doctors working at ISMETT (since it's partnered with UPMC), but mostly all are gone now so it's all Italian doctors. Someone described ISMETT as a sort of 'oasis' in Sicily, since other hospitals are no where near as developed and well functioning as ISMETT.  I think it's pretty great that UPMC was able to start such a great institution for very sick patients in Europe. 

Up next: Venice on Friday!!