Syracuse Italy Nov 4 to Nov 6

Nov 4 2024. We have been in the Mediterranean area for a month now. Today we took the train from Messina to Syracusa Sicily. Three hours.

Sicily is very lush and green. The landscape includes the sea and mountains but also plains. Gardens are growing.

Syracuse, population 125000, has a rich Greek and Roman history, and was the birthplace of the mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was a major power in the Mediterranean.
It's under ten blocks to our hotel. We are parched and stopped for a pop along the way. It's hot in the sun, but I am glad for my sweater in the shade.

Our hotel includes breakfast. Our room is nice and very clean. We can make coffee and there is a fridge. Hotel Mediteranio. There is a big window but not a balcony. Stairs are involved.

The desk clerk spoke good English so that was a bonus. There's a tourist tax of six Euros.
This street with oleander trees in bloom caught my eye as we walked to a cafe:

We had pizza and arancini (deep fried rice balls covered with bread crumbs, additions to centre include tomato sauce, we had ragu) for supper. Here's a picture of the arancini, invented here in Sicily hundreds of years ago:

The time has changed here, it gets dark early!

Ortygia is another island connected by a bridge to Syracusa. It is the "old town" and we will go there tomorrow.
We were first in the breakfast room - 730 am

Hard boiled eggs, toast, salami, cheese, fruit (yay), cakes, sweet croissants, yoghurt - I took a banana and plum and a yoghurt right off the bat - really wanted a coffee but got a tiny expresso. So that's what's missing for me but I enjoyed my breakfast and had a piece of pound cake. Would go really good with coffee;
I guess this is like a boutique hotel. It has two pretty sitting rooms:

It is a fine day, 23 C. We walked to the old town, stopping for coffee about half way.
At least 15 blocks.

The old town has many narrow streets lined with shops, cafes and bakeries but also people live here

Caravaggio spent a couple of months in Syracusa when he was hiding from the Knights of Malta. He may have been a tempestuous brawler but he was also productive and knocked off a masterpiece while he was here. We want to see it so we are looking for the Church of St Lucia. Santa Lucia chapel of Holy Mary Cathedral on Ortigia island, the old town of Syracuse.

Although the Caravaggio had been here at some point it isn't anymore. It took us awhile to figure this out so I spent awhile in the front pew admiring the painting over the altar and Jeff spent time looking at a reproduction in an anteroom

The Fountain of Diana (Fontana di Diana) is in the center of Piazza Archimede. It is also known as the Fountain of Artemis, as the original Greek name for the Roman goddess Diana was Artemis.

So I pay 2 E to see the inside of Syracusa Cathedral. No Caravaggio here either but a significant historical sight. a testament to the city’s layered past, having evolved from an ancient Greek temple dedicated to Athena, constructed in the 5th century BC. The structure illustrates the transitions through Greek, Byzantine, Norman. It was badly damaged by an earthquake in the seventeenth century and rebuilt with Baroque influences.

Dating to the 6th century B.C. The Temple of Apollo is one of the most ancient Doric temples in Sicily, and among the first with the layout consisting of a peripteros of stone columns. This layout became standard for Greek temples. The temple underwent several transformations: it was closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, it was a Byzantine church, from which period the front steps and traces of a central door are preserved, and then an Islamic mosque during the Emirate of Sicily. After the Norman defeat of the Saracens, it was reconsecrated at the Church of the Saviour, which was then incorporated into a 16th-century Spanish barracks and then into private houses, though some architectural elements remained visible. Impressive.

I saw two churches and had done a lot of walking. Cannoli time. First you pick the cone, Then a ricotta cream is piped into it. The ends are dipped in pistachios and sugar is dusted over it, Voila. Delicious. 2.5 Euro.
We split one.

The shopkeeper was so helpful showing me the ropes - you don't just point to a premade one, they are customized. And the first thing he did was give me a spoonful of filling to sample. Fun.

On the walk back to Hotel Mediteranio we checked out this place:

A nondescript patio that stays open during siesta time and doesn't charge coperto. Note the kitchen is only open between 1 pm and 3 pm.
We ordered two Ancini and a ham croissant and I had a beer all for 7 Euro - a filling choice. The staff were really nice here too so a happy lively atmosphere.

The Church of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro is a sanctuary erected on the site where Saint Lucy was martyred in 304, during the persecution of Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Diocletian. As far as Lucy goes the Romans tried to burn her but when that didn't work they slit her throat. She was twenty years old. The Burial of Saint Lucia was painted in 1608 by Caravaggio who died under suspicious circumstances two years later.

Sicilians are indigenous to Sicily and have their own language. They are ethnically influenced by Greeks, Normans and Romans, and although most have dark hair there are redheads as well, thought to be from the Normans.

Well we have to go online to see anything about the US election. What a weird world. What strange neighbours. Why?
It was raining this morning but still over 20 C. We headed out at 1030 after it stopped. We are seeking the Caravaggio painting and now walk about 20 blocks stopping for coffee along the way

This building is the war Memorial for those who died in the first world war:

We hear the noon church bell ringing before we saw the church but felt heartened, yes we are close.

At first I sat in the front pew and hoped some other tourist would light up the painting which hangs above the altar very close to the spot where Saint Lucy died 2100 years ago. Clever of the Sicilians to let entrance to the church be free but charge to light up the painting. This painting had been almost lost for two centuries, extensively damaged and painted over - and has been painstakingly restored.

Well nothing to do but pop in a Euro to get four minutes of light. Well spent!


Jeff and I have now seen two Caravaggio paintings in Malta, two in Messina Sicily and now this one.
We leave the church to sit in the square beside it. The weather is perfect, not too hot. A Franciscan monk meets with a group outside the church.

A pretty but broken fountains in Piazza Santa Lucia: the Borgata struggles and is kind of run down.

The whole neighbourhood has seen better days but we return to the same cafe where we had coffee earlier and have a piece of pizza and a drink. It's peaceful here, seems only locals are out and about
We spent a few hours at the hotel before venturing out again.
We returned to the Cucina and Gelato Mania Place which I highly recommend. Ragu Arancini a lemon soda and tartufo - an Italian Gelato Desert. It was invented in Calabria and consists of two or more flavours of gelato with usually chocolate in the centre. Decadent.
The owner is Maria and I asked if I could take her picture for my blog