Segesta is a magical archaeological site, located in the high hills of Northwestern Sicily.  A visit in the late afternoon, when other tourists were heading out, allowed a mystical impression of a very special place.

Apparent facts escape me at this moment.  Only that Segesta was occupied by various peoples, over thousands of years.  The Greeks, of these parts, built the unfinished Doric Temple.  The city, eventually conquered by other Greeks from Syracuse, was given another name, but was later won back, and returned to its old name of Segesta.  In time, the Romans conquered Segesta, and because it was associated with Troy, they lifted the tributes most cities needed to pay, and gave it vast expansive lands.  Segesta turned into the most powerful city state, in all the Mediterranean basin.  In later centuries it was occupied by the Normans. There are even traces that Muslims resided this land.

Mainly, I was left with the exhilarating sensation, from climbing the high mountain to the Amphi-theater.  The sun, lowering on the horizon cast a soft light on the many shades of lavender, white, red, and yellow flowers that swayed in the breeze, and lined the pathway.  The arduous walk up the mountain afforded beautiful views of the surrounding valleys, and looking back, the splendid Temple, rose up to the sky.

A final walk down the hill and back up to the Temple, completed the experience.  I stood in front of the golden structure, of thirty-six pillars, and walked around all four sides, with less than six other straggling tourists.  The sun was even lower, and soft shadows rested against the golden colored stones.  An un-explicable feeling of lost time, lingered in the air. It was then time to venture back, and leave the park.