Member's Articles

Sicily - flowers and ruins

Written by John Metcalf. Posted in Members' Articles

sicily_osteospermum.jpgI was part of a group that visited Sicily in late spring of 2008 and took lots of pictures of the sites many of which had wild flowers in and around them. John Metcalf

 centranthus-pink.jpg anthis.jpg alyssum3.jpg annual-chrysanthemum2.jpg solitary-yellow-lathyrus.jpg

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 One of the many temples at Selinunte which overlook the sea

 crassula-footprint-and-fly.jpg fakis-by-the-shore1.jpg fennel-shoots1.jpg iris-blue-and.jpg house-infills.jpg

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Mount Etna Sicily's celebrated volcano, still the loftiest in Europe at about 3330m

 muscar.jpg old-olive-tree.jpg olive-and-colums-unused.jpg opuntias.jpg orange-flowers.jpg

olive tree and column in Cava di Cusa quarry

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Sea view beside the temples at Selinunte with masses of wild flowers

 pale-blue-iris.jpg pink-convolvulus.jpg pink-purple-vetch.jpg purple-flowers.jpg red-flowered-shrub.jpg

road-in-hillside.jpg Interior of Sicily showing some of the olive trees and fennel growing on the rolling hills

pink-purple-convolulus.jpg salvia-purple-flowers.jpg sicily_osteospermum.jpg red-poppy.jpg green-lizard.jpg

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an olive perched on the edge of a ravine

 rock-plant.jpg sicilyrosemary1288.jpg side-of-temple.jpg small-white-flower.jpg toadlflax-etc.jpg

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Selinunte and wild flowers

 silene-and-euphorbai.jpg variegated-yuccas.jpg vine-sprouting.jpg vetch-yellow.jpg wisteria.jpg

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Another view of one of the temples in the complex at Selinunte

 yellow-asphodel.jpg another-old-olive-tree2.jpg oranges.jpg loquats.jpg pathway.jpg

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many plants finding places to grow in the crevasses of the rocks

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entrance to Palermo museum

 artichokes1.jpg aubergine.jpg calabrese1.jpg tomatoes.jpg courgettes.jpg

delightful displays of vegetables in the local markets

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View across another ravine

 borage.jpg artemisia.jpg open-hillside.jpg lemons.jpg oranges-in-barrow.jpg

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flowers mixed flowers and grasses hillside before  nearing Selinunte side street

below views of the abandoned quarry from which stone was extracted for Selinunte and the earthquake damage caused on the site

 quarry at Cava di Cusa quarry and olive tree Cava di Cusa unfinished columns at Cava di Cusa more left columns Cav di Cusa 2 metre column in quarry at Cava di Cusa Selinunte complex collapsed column after earthquake lichen earthquake damage scale of temple, see figures in left opening between columns chancing ones luck some restoration

more earth quake damage 

angelica nov-pink-flwsicily_20080408_1888.jpg lizard lost tail nov-rock-plant-sicily.jpg

 sea fruits more sea fruits no escaping the little gnomic horrors olive tree

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all photographs by John Metcalf using CANON PowerShot A720 IS