June 21 Syracuse and ancient ruins

 

Great view from our hotel

The next morning we were swept off to wander around ancient Greek and Roman ruins including a humongous amphitheatre where they were preparing to stage a play in the traditional Greek method that very night. We strolled passed sacrificial sites and eventually through ‘paradise’ (no connection between the two!). ‘Paradise’ is the glorious garden which once was a massive limestone quarry and is now a sunken garden planted with citrus and other trees. The slaves who quarried the rock worked, ate and slept, and many died, in the huge caverns they had carved out - it must have been horrendous.

This huge slab of limestone was where cattle were sacrificed and their blood offered to the gods. The meat was then cooked and handed out to the people.

The Greek amphitheatre.

The stone tiers of the Greek amphitheatre are covered with protective timber during the summer months when tourists crowd the place. Each night during summer a traditional play is staged.

This was once a massive limestone quarry. Today it is a tranquil garden called 'paradise'

One of the remaining caverns where rock was extracted

The roof of much of the quarry collapsed. On the left only one column built to hold up the roof remains. R: a large chunk of roof fallen in.

Inside this tear-sharped cavern the air was cool. The acoustics were wonderful.

Alongside these Greek ruins were Roman ruins - a popular spot it seems. We headed over to the Roman amphitheatre which was nearly as impressive nor cleared as much as its Greek neighbour.

At this stage we were almost dropping. We had been walking in the sun for a few hours, it was now noon and the temperature had been over 30c all morning. We were all hanging out to sit down and have an icy drink but no the guide, a local very knowledgeable man, had other plans for us. We piled back on the bus and headed back to Ortigia where he took us for a stroll through the backstreets, passed more ruins and then through the Mercato di Ortigia, a wonderful farmers’ market. 

Ruins punctuate modernity as a stark reminder of our transience.

This once a Greek temple was rebuilt/adapted by the Romans centuries later.

The Romans cut a typical arched window into the wall of the Greek temple

A delicious array of fresh fish

The fish left us mouths agape - huge chunks of tuna and yummy swordfish, mountains of squid and piles of samphire-like greens. Pernod, samphire and other herbs and flavours enhance the local fish

Herbs and spices. Tomatoes here are sweet and plentiful.

Tropea Rossa Lunga plaited like bunches of nature’s jewels

Oysters as large as your hand freshly shucked.

In the market, multi-flavoured liqueurs sat in tempting rows

Cute little ‘tuk-tuks’ waited to ferry people around the island. Us? we walked!

We of course were getting even more thirsty and hungry by this time but our lovely tour leader, Gilberto, took pity on us and bought us some delicious lemon and almond cakes to keep us going. At the same time our guide Salvadore, traitor to his name, was trotting AKA staggering us up the hill to the ancient Duomo di Siracusa which was built C7 AD within or rather incorporated into the remains of an ancient Doric Greek temple. The latter had been built in C5th BC also on even older foundations - the ‘mille-feuille’ of history and human ‘endeavour/survival’ I have found intriguing. To add a layer of complexity the building was converted into a mosque in C9 AD, then converted back when the Normans retook the city in C11. And then as luck would have it 8 centuries later there was an earthquake and ……. well it’s not surprising that the complex has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Imposing C5th BC Doric columns stand sentinel beside the new church. The walls of the church were knocked out and the stone used to fill in between the columns to enlarge the church.

Original towering columns from C5th BC Greek temple stood guard at back of the church

We all escaped from our guide to relax and eat; it had been an overwhelming 4 hours and our heads were spinning.  After a quiet night on our own, the following day we were motoring further south to Modica.