Siracusa/Ortigia

It is hard to believe that our 5 nights here in Ortigia has come to an end.  The evening walks, passeggiata, have been the best so far.  Ortigia is a lovely island just off of Siracusa, and has been inhabited for around 12000 years.  There are two natural harbors, plenty of fresh water and therefore this place has been sought after for a long time.  If you study your ancient history, and I'm not a scholar in that regard by any standard, you'll read about the absolute prestige that Siracusa held in the ancient Greek time, at one point around 2500 years ago, it was the most powerful Greek city.  Now Siracusa has wonderful ruins, both a Roman and Greek (still in use) theater, as well as the connection to Ortigia.  The island "city" is chocked full of amazing architecture, lovely restaurants and warm people.  Our stay at the Terra e Mare B&B was nice, a great staff, absolutely wonderful breakfasts, a cozy room that was kept immaculate, and a good location to walk the island and see the sights.

So 5 nights in Ortigia, what did we do?  Relax, eat, drink and be merry.  

We spent a nice day driving south, to the "Southest point" in Italy.  Ok its not but the translation is classic and I didn't hang the sign.  It is the southern most of Sicily.

 

Got some beach time in, it was nice.

 

We also went to the Archeological Museum and park.  We saw more 5th century BC ceramics than you can imagine.  It was very interesting to see how man has evolved and how life using bones as tools was carried out.  Our trip to the outdoor archeological park was a bit rushed as we were very hot and had done plenty of walking.  I did get a few shots of the Roman theater, the Greek one was being set up for a performance in the next coulpe weeks.  This modification to the theater, wood benches where needed, the floor covered and other things really detracted from the experience for me.

I hope you like my new mustache, its a theater afterall.

 

We explored Ortigia for day, getting into the cathedral was great.  The original temple was repurposed in the 1400's, adding some structual dethails, even rooms, however leaving the remaining columns.

If you look very closely at the last building on the left side of this first picture, about 2/3 up, you can see the top of the old Doric columns.  Those were just surrounded and filled in when religious leadership of the city changed.

 

 

The main piazza on Ortigia, piazza Minerva:

We checked out the Castle Mainace, built about 1250.

 

 

On Ortigia is the Temple di Apollo, the oldest Doric Temple in Sicily, dating to the 6th century BC:

Temple di Apollo

 

 

 

The final one for today is a little creepy.  This picture is of an active dig in Ortigia and looks like a community toilet.  However it was used as a catch basin when people died, they set their bodies above the holes to let it decompose until deemed appropriate for burial. 

 

So much more we saw, the camera guy is slacking a little, its vacation afterall.

We spent our final day in Sicily on Mt Etna, that will have to wait for the next entry.

-Ciao a tutti!