Our last day in Siracusa will be spent exploring more of the city. But before we start our exploration a bit of a history lesson is warranted.

Syracuse (as most of us remember it as) dates back 2700 years (founded in 734 BC)! If you are like me, you thought Syracuse was a city in Greece, not Sicily!  In the 5th century BC it was a big as Athens; in 415 BC about 250,000 people lived here. The Bible says that the apostle Paul visited here. Archimedes, the famous mathematician (inventor of calculus), was born (and died) here. End of lesson.

Our hotel is actually is located on the island of Ortigia, the “old town”,  which is attached to the mainland by a couple of bridges. Our first activity of the day was going back to the mainland to visit the the Neapolis Archeological Park to see ancient Greek and Roman ruins located there. The Greek theater here dates back to 500 BC with seating carved from stone and capable of seating 15,000 people. It offers the best view in town, overlooking the bay beyond. The theater is still in use today so had had to contend with some wooden scaffolding which somewhat ruined the true view of the facility.  Nearby are the remains of a Roman amphitheater built in the first century AD after the Romans took over. It was used like the Colosseum in Rome-for gladiator fights.  Part of the same complex is a huge quarry where slaves provided much of the stone needed for the construction of the theater and amphitheater. The area is know known as the Garden of Paradise and we visited one of the huge caverns dug there that has amazing acoustics. We all had to test whether that was true!

From there it was back to Ortigia for a walking tour of the area followed by a visit to their daily market.

We first visited the Cathedral of Siracusa (dedicated to St. Lucy, the patron Saint of Siracusa) located right around the corner from our hotel. The original structure here was a Greek temple built in the 5th century BC. In 878 it became a mosque, then in the 11th  century it was made into the Catholic Church it is now. What makes it unique (and unlike any other church we have ever seen) is that the church was built encompassing the columns of the original Greek temple; they are an integral part of the church and gives it a truly unique appeal on the inside.

We then walked to the northern part of the island to see the remains of the Greek temple dedicated to Apollo located right next to the city market, our next stop. After strolling through the market (and stopping to learn about local products) we ended up at a local restaurant at the edge of the market where we had a fabulous lunch which consisted of a half dozen small bowls of various salads, meats, cheeses and fish. There was even a dessert. Everyone thought it was a great treat.

The rest of the afternoon was supposedly free but we were not able to have our laundry done at the previous hotel stop, as it did not have weekend service, so I convinced Yvonne (reluctantly) to go to the local self service laundromat that others in our tour group used. It was nearby, clean and easy to use. Luckily the owner was there, spoke English perfectly and guided us through the process which only took about an hour.

There were no plans for the night and Gerry suggested that we go to a local puppet show, a skill carried on in Sicily for centuries. There are even a couple of shops still making puppets in Siracusa. We agreed it would be fun and we joined about 60 other people at the 6PM show. The puppets are about three feet tall and have elaborate costumes

The show (in Italian) was about a knight fighting for the hand of the fair maiden daughter of the king. We understood nothing but somehow did seem to follow the plot, but found we would have to come the next night to see if there was the happy ending we all were waiting for! Obviously we could not as we were leaving the next morning so we will never know the “rest of the story”. My bet is that he prevailed!

We were on our own for dinner and we all wanted pasta WITH meat and sought out a local recommended restaurant noted for it. There is a funny incident associated with the evening. We had to kill 30 minutes before getting our table so we wandered near by to get a drink while waiting. Service was very slow and our drinks did not arrive for 25 minutes, leaving us little time to consume them. We needed to-go cups but where could we get some? Gerry spotted a liquor store across the street and came back with a package of about 50 plastic cups that he paid 1 Euro for!  We had a hardy laugh as we left with our drinks in plastic cups and an excess supply of cups (which actually came in handy later in the trip).

The meal at the restaurant was good and we happily called it a night afterwards. Oh, I might comment there are often strolling musicians who go from restaurant to restaurant, entertaining the guests and passing a hat for tips. We happily obliged when we ran into them as it lent atmosphere to the evening.

 

Steps for the day: 12,530  A big day!